University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's basketball alumna Ellen Ougrinov has signed a professional contract with CAB Madeira, competing in the top Portuguese league of Liga Betclic.

"What excites me most is the opportunity to play basketball at a high level in an amazing environment," said Ougrinov. "Getting to live in Madeira, learn about the culture here, and get paid to play the sport I love - I think after so many years of putting time and effort into the sport I am finally able to kind of reap the rewards in a really cool way!"

An accomplished Varsity Blues, Ougrinov finished her U of T playing career with 1,081 points, becoming just the eighth player in program history to surpass 1,000 career points. Her ascent up the Varsity Blues record books was helped by her incredible outside shooting, which saw all four of her seasons register in the single season Top 10 for Blues three-point field goals all-time, leading to a new program record for career three-point field goals (189). She closed out her OUA career with a spectacular 2023-24 campaign where she not only led the Varsity Blues in numerous statistical categories, but also finished Top 5 in the OUA in both points per game (17.9) and total three-point field goals made (77), earning her OUA all-star honours.

Ougrinov then followed up her time playing as a Varsity Blue by coaching, joining the staff during the 2024-25 season as a graduate assistant coach while continuing her studies at OISE. She additionally has begun training with the Bulgarian national team.

"I think my time playing at U of T helped me develop the skills and confidence I needed to be able to compete with really good professional players," explained Ougrinov. "In my year of coaching, I learned a lot on how to think of the game and see details that coaches pay attention to or look for. Now I am able to apply all of that to my game as well as I get back on the court."

CAB Medeira is based our of Funchal, the capital of the island of Madeira off the coast of Portugal. Ougrinov joins the team following the start of the season in early October. The season will continue into late March.