With a wealth of international playing experience, plus a year under her belt in the Big 12 Conference, Aija Putnina is ready for a break out year. She has great size and is as versatile as any player on the CU roster.
2006-07 (Freshman): Saw valuable time as she proved to be a solid backup for established front court veterans Jackie McFarland and Kara Richards. Her ability to play at this level was never more apparent when she was forced into the starting lineup after an injury to Richards and had one of the finest four-game stretches by a freshman in team history. Starting with the Nevada game (11/24), through the game with Southern California (12/2), Putnina averaged 10.5 points, 13.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 44.8 percent from the field. She had four-straight double-digit rebounding games, including back-to-back career-high 14-board outputs against Colorado State (11/29) and USC (12/2). She is the first freshman to record four-straight games with 10 or more rebounds since Erin Scholz had four in a row in 1993-94. Only all time leading scorer Lisa Van Goor had more in a row as a freshman, compiling separate streaks of five and six games in 1980-81. She also had back-to-back double-doubles at the Coors Claissc, earning All-Tournament honors. She’s the first freshman to achieve back-to-back double-doubles since Sabrina Scott did it at the end of the 1999-2000 season and it’s only the fourth time since 1993-94 when Scholz did it twice. Her 113 total rebounds ranked second on the team, behind only McFarland, and her 4.3 average ranked fifth among all Big 12 freshmen.
High School: Putnina is a 2006 graduate of Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colo. An exchange student from Riga, Latvia, she could play only one season of varsity high school basketball in Colorado, and certainly made the most of her opportunity. She averaged 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks per game helping the Raiders to a 24-4 overall record and a second place finish in the Colorado State Class 4A Tournament. She earned All-Continental Conference first team recognition and received honorable mention to the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post Class 4A All-State teams. Putnina played for the Mile Hi Magic AAU team and attended the adidas Top Ten All-American camp in 2005. Putnina ranked as the No. 14 forward, and No. 78 player overall, in the All-Star Girls Report.
Latvia Junior National Team: Putnina averaged 16.6 points, 11 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in helping the Latvia National team to a 12th place finish at the 2007 U20 European Championship for Women-Division A in Sofia, Bulgaria, this past summer. She led the tournament field with five double-doubles in eight games and also topped all players in free throws made and attempted (57-of-72, .792). In July of 2006, she averaged 16.9 points and 10 rebounds per game to lead the Latvia U18 Junior National Team to a fourth place finish at the UMCOR U18 European Championship for Women ? Division B, in Chieti, Italy. Putnina was sixth in rebounding and seventh in scoring and blocking (1.0 bpg) at the championship. She had four double-doubles in the tournament including a 30-point, 12-rebound performance in a 63-61 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. In August 2005 she led Latvia to a third place finish at the FIBA U18 European Championship averaging 11.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2.5 blocks in the eight-game tournament. Putnina led Latvia in nearly every statistical category at the championship and ranked third in blocks and fifth in rebounds for the entire tournament field. She averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds per game for Latvia at the 2004 U16 European Championships and was the tournament’s fourth-highest scorer.
Academics: Putnina is an economics major at Colorado, and is interested in international business. She is a fall 2006 member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll. She aspires to own her own business and to become a basketball coach.
Personal: Aija Putnina was born on January 15, 1988, in Riga, Latvia. She is the daughter of Ugis and Ingrida Putnina, and has one older sister, Ilze. She lists the biggest moment of her high school career as going to the state championship game.
| Overall |
GP-S |
Min |
Avg |
FG |
FGA |
Pct |
3FG |
3FGA |
Pct |
FT |
FTA |
Pct |
| 2006-07 |
26-5 |
368 |
14.2 |
18 |
58 |
.310 |
0 |
5 |
.000 |
39 |
60 |
.650 |
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| Overall |
OReb |
DReb |
TOT |
Avg |
PF |
FO |
A |
TO |
BK |
S |
Pts |
Avg |
| 2006-07 |
29 |
84 |
113 |
4.3 |
35 |
1 |
13 |
36 |
19 |
8 |
75 |
2.9 |
