Iziane "Izi" Castro Marques (born March 13, 1982 in São Luís, Maranhão) is a Brazilian professional basketball player. The six-foot forward is a mainstay of the Brazil women's national basketball team, and a starting small forward on the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA.

The undrafted Castro Marques was signed by the Miami Sol as a free agent out of Florida International University, becoming the youngest player in the WNBA (21 years, 1 month, 12 days) at the time she joined the Sol. The next year she went to the Phoenix Mercury. In 2005, she joined the Storm, starting for the first time in her career. In the early part of the 2006 season, her erratic play got her benched in favor of rookie Barbara Turner, but Castro Marques came back strong after eight games in reserve and never relinquished the starting job that season.

On February 6, 2008, Castro Marques was traded by Seattle to the Atlanta Dream along with the Storm's first round pick in exchange for Roneeka Hodges and the fourth overall pick in the 2008 draft.^[1]

[edit] International competition

Her national team has finished fourth in two consecutive international competitions, the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women, which Brazil hosted. Star of the squad, she was not included in the roster for the 2008 Summer Olympics due to her refusal to enter a quarterfinal game in overtime after a verbal altercation with her coach during the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women 2008 in Spain.^[2] She is currently playing for Villeneuve d'Ascq in France during the 2008-09 WNBA off-season.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• WNBA.com profile
• Storm profile
• PHOTO

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