Career: İÜSK (Turkey-TBBL, 1997-1999) Galatasaray (Turkey-TBBL, 1999-2001), Apollon Polomadia (Greece-Div.1, 2001-2002), Termini di Mareze (Italy-Div. 1, 2002-2003), La Spazia (Italy-Div. 1, 2003-2004) Pool Comense Como (Italy-Div. 1, 2004-2005), Fenerbahçe (Turkey-Div. 1, 2005-07)

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Yılmaz is the pinnacle of Turkish women’s basketball who has all the mental tools to become one of the great figures in her sport. Despite her star status she is a player who is always thriving to become better and is never satisfied with what she has accomplished. Even as a 17-year-old prodigy everyone knew she would go on to be a great player though at the time she was a traditional back to the basket old-fashioned center.

Ten years on Yilmaz is the complete package. Never satisfied with being a one dimensional player, the native of Bulgaria worked very hard on her footwork, passing and shooting skills. Nowadays she is deadly in all aspects of her game. She is an adept passer off the post, a shooter and a banger inside. In addition, she is a voracious competitor and never backs away. But that passion, interestingly, comes with humility. She doesn’t see herself as better than other players on the team and her main driving force is to not only get better but to improve as a team.

After years plying her trade in places Greece and Italy, Yilmaz has become the centrepiece of everything Turkey wants to achieve. With a relentless up-tempo style, Turkey lacks the mobile big players the system would thrive on. Actually Yılmaz is the only high-caliber post player on the roster. She has to sacrifice even more and work even harder, but she relishes that role. The 27-year-old is ready to take on whatever responsibility she is given and with her never-ending desire to get better she seems to enjoy even more success for her and her teammates.