Maria Stepanova

{{Short description|Russian basketball player (born 1979)}}

{{distinguish|Maria Stepanova (poet)|Mariya Stepanova}}

{{family name hatnote|Alexandrovna|Stepanova|lang=Eastern Slavic}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Maria Stepanova

| image = Stepanova-Maria.jpg

| caption =

| position = Center

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 8

| weight_lb = 187

| nationality = Russian

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1979|2|23}}

| birth_place = Shpakovskoye, Stavropol Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

| high_school =

| college =

| draft_league = WNBA

| draft_year = 1998

| draft_round = 1

| draft_pick = 8

| draft_team = Phoenix Mercury

| career_start =

| career_end =

| years1 = 1998–2001, 2005

| team1 = Phoenix Mercury

| years2 = 2006

| team2 = KB Stars

| highlights =

• WNBA blocks leader ({{WNBA Year|2005}})
• 3× FIBA Europe Women's Player of the Year (2005, 2006, 2008)
• 3× Russian Player of the Year (2005–2007)

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | {{RUS}} }}

{{MedalSport | Women's Basketball}}

{{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}}

{{MedalBronze| 2004 Athens| Team Competition}}

{{MedalBronze| 2008 Beijing| Team Competition}}

}}

Maria Alexandrovna Stepanova ({{langx|ru|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 sixth-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.