Lithuanian former basketball forward, 1997 EuroBasket champion, EuroLeague winner, WNBA player, and FIBA Hall of Fame inductee.
Jurgita Štreimikytė was born in Alytus, Lithuania, and developed as one of the country’s leading women’s basketball players during the 1990s. Her early club career included Lithuanian teams such as Vilniaus Telerina and Kauno Laisvė before she moved abroad to play in stronger European leagues.
From 1994 to 1998, Štreimikytė played for Valenciennes Olympic in France. This move placed her in one of Europe’s stronger women’s basketball environments and helped establish her outside Lithuania. She then joined Comense in Italy, where she played from 1998 to 2002. During this period, she won Italian league titles in 1999 and 2002 and played in major European competition. She was part of Comense’s EuroLeague runner-up team in 1999.
Štreimikytė entered the WNBA in 2000 after being selected by the Indiana Fever with the 26th overall pick in the second round of the draft. In her first WNBA season, she averaged 4.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 27 games. In 2001, she improved her role with Indiana, averaging 9.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 27 games. She returned to the Fever in 2005, averaging 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds across 34 regular-season games and appearing in the playoffs.
After her early WNBA and Italian career, Štreimikytė continued playing in Lithuania and Europe. She played for Vilniaus Lietuvos Telekomas from 2003 to 2006 and later for Vilniaus TEO from 2006 to 2009. During this period, she won Lithuanian Women’s Basketball League championships and Baltic Women’s Basketball League titles in consecutive seasons from 2004 to 2007. She was also named Lithuanian championship MVP in 2006.
Her later club career included a spell with Sopron in Hungary in 2004 and Spartak Vidnoye in Russia in 2009. With Spartak, she won the 2009 EuroLeague Women championship, one of the most important club honours of her career. She retired as a player in 2010.
After retirement, Štreimikytė moved into coaching. In January 2010, she became an assistant coach with Vilniaus TEO under head coach Mantas Šernius. She later continued working in Lithuanian basketball as a coach and technical figure.
Jurgita Štreimikytė played for the Lithuania women’s national basketball team from 1994 to 2006. Her national-team career coincided with one of the most successful periods in Lithuanian women’s basketball history.
The defining achievement of her international career came at EuroBasket Women 1997, where Lithuania won the European championship. Štreimikytė was part of the Lithuanian team that secured the title, making her one of the key players associated with the country’s most important women’s basketball success.
She continued to represent Lithuania in international competitions through the 2000s. At the 2006 FIBA World Championship, she averaged 13.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in eight games. Her best performance in that tournament came against Spain, when she recorded 23 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block in Lithuania’s 80–71 win. That game marked several of her recorded international career highs, including points, rebounds, and efficiency.
Štreimikytė retired from international basketball after the 2006 World Championship. Her long service with the Lithuanian national team, combined with the 1997 EuroBasket title, remains a central part of her basketball résumé.
Jurgita Štreimikytė played mainly as a forward and power forward. At around 1.88 m to 1.91 m, she combined frontcourt size with mobility, rebounding, passing, and scoring versatility. She was capable of playing inside while also contributing away from the basket. Her best statistical profiles show balanced production in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, making her a complete forward in European and international basketball.
Jurgita Štreimikytė was born in Alytus, Lithuania. She is also known as Jurgita Štreimikytė-Virbickienė after marriage. Her husband is Dainius Virbickas, a Lithuanian long-distance runner who competed at the 1996 Olympic Games. They have one son.
After ending her playing career in 2010, she remained involved in basketball as a coach. She became an assistant coach with Vilniaus TEO and later continued contributing to Lithuanian women’s basketball through coaching and development roles.
Jurgita Štreimikytė’s legacy is based on her role in Lithuania’s greatest women’s basketball achievement, her long European club career, and her place among the country’s most recognised female basketball players. Winning EuroBasket Women 1997 with Lithuania made her part of a historic national team, while her later performances in international competitions showed her continued value over more than a decade.
At club level, she won domestic titles in Italy and Lithuania and became a EuroLeague Women champion in 2009. Her WNBA career with Indiana made her one of the Lithuanian players to compete in the leading American women’s professional league. Her induction into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2022 formally recognised her contribution to international women’s basketball.
Jurgita Štreimikytė’s major international honour was winning EuroBasket Women 1997 with Lithuania. She remained part of the Lithuania national team from 1994 to 2006 and represented the country at major European and world competitions.
At club level, she was a EuroLeague Women champion in 2009 with Spartak Vidnoye and a EuroLeague runner-up in 1999. She won Italian championships in 1999 and 2002 and Lithuanian league championships in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. She also won Baltic Women’s Basketball League titles in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Individually, she was named Lithuanian championship MVP in 2006 and took part in the 2006 EuroLeague All-Star Game. In 2022, she was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2022, recognising her long career and contribution to women’s basketball.
Jurgita Štreimikytė-Virbickienė is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and coach, recognised as one of the major figures in Lithuanian women’s basketball. Born on May 14, 1972, in Alytus, Lithuania, she played primarily as a forward and power forward. Standing around 6 ft 2 in to 6 ft 3 in, she built a long club and international career across Lithuania, France, Italy, Hungary, Russia, and the WNBA.
Štreimikytė played for clubs including Kaunas, Valenciennes Olympic, Comense, Sopron, Spartak Vidnoye, and Indiana Fever. She was drafted by Indiana in the second round of the 2000 WNBA Draft and played in the league in 2000, 2001, and 2005. In Europe, she won major domestic and continental honours, including the 2009 EuroLeague Women title with Spartak Vidnoye and earlier success in Italy and Lithuania.
Internationally, Štreimikytė was a member of the Lithuania women’s national team from 1994 to 2006. Her most important national-team achievement came in 1997, when Lithuania won EuroBasket Women. She later represented Lithuania at major tournaments including the 2006 FIBA World Championship, after which she retired from international basketball. In 2022, she was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of her contribution to women’s basketball.
