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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 23 February 1979 Shpakovskoye, Stavropol Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | |||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Russian | |||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | |||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 187 lb (85 kg) | |||||||||||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||||||||||
| WNBA draft | 1998: 1st round, 8th overall pick | |||||||||||||||||
| Selected by the Phoenix Mercury | ||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Center | |||||||||||||||||
| Career history | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2001, 2005 | Phoenix Mercury | |||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | KB Stars | |||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stats at Basketball Reference | ||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Maria Alexandrovna Stepanova (Russian: Мари́я Алекса́ндровна Степа́нова; born 23 February 1979) is a Russian professional and Olympic basketball player. In the United States, she played for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
At a height of 203 cm, she has been the fifth-tallest player in the league (along with Zheng Haixia and Lindsay Taylor). Margo Dydek, 7 ft 2 in (218 cm), Bernadett Határ, 6 ft 10.5 in (210 cm), Han Xu, 6 ft 11 in (211 cm), Brittney Griner and Liz Cambage, both 6 ft 9 in (206 cm), are taller than her. Heidi Gillingham, also 6 ft 10 in, and Allyssa DeHaan, 6 ft 9 in as well, never played in the WNBA. She wears size 15 (US) / 48 (EU) shoes. Though in the Russian national team, she has been overtaken by Ekaterina Lisina in being the tallest member.
Stepanova was born in the village of Shpakovskoye (now the town of Mikhaylovsk, in Stavropol Krai of the former Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union, and grew up in Tosno, Leningrad Oblast.