The Maryland women’s basketball team announced Thursday the signing of transfer guard Eleanna Christinaki, who was Florida’s leading scorer before leaving the Gators earlier this season.
Christinaki will enroll at Maryland for the spring semester, according to the team’s press release.
An Athens, Greece, native, Christinaki was an All-SEC Freshman Team selection last year. She averaged 24.5 minutes last season with the Gators, who upset five top-15 teams and spent much of the season ranked near the bottom of the Top 25. As a rookie, she led them with 3.4 assists per game and was their second-leading scorer, averaging 10.4 points
Christinaki played in Florida’s first nine games this season and averaged a team-leading 17.6 points. Gators coach Amanda Butler suspended her for the first half of the team’s Dec. 11 game against North Carolina A&T for “behavior that is not becoming of a Gator and not part of our culture,” according to ESPN, but Christinaki didn’t accept the suspension.
ESPN reported Dec. 11 Christinaki had left the Gators. About four weeks later, Christinaki, a member of the Greek Senior National Team, became a Terp.
“We are thrilled to welcome Eleanna to our Maryland family,” coach Brenda Frese said in the press release. “Our fans are going to love her energy. She is a dynamic, competitive, scoring guard who is going to bring a vast amount of experience to our team.”
NCAA rules require transfer players to sit out a full academic year before playing at their new school, which could make Christinaki eligible after the 2017 fall semester midway through next season, but a team representative told The Diamondback the program is still working through her eligibility options.
“I am very happy to be joining the Maryland women’s basketball team,” Christinaki said. “Coach Frese inspired me from the first time that we met and I cannot wait to play for her.”
Maryland (14-1, 2-0 Big Ten) is ranked No. 3 in the country and is led by two seniors, guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and center Brionna Jones. This past year, Frese brought in the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, including guards Destiny Slocum and Kaila Charles, who have started every game for the Terps this season.