Kurihara started her professional career in 2012, playing for the Toyota Antelopes. She played for the Antelopes until 2021 when the team won their first ever championship title. Kurihara announced her retirement after that win.[3]
International career
Kurihara represented Japan at the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women, and the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.[4]
Kurihara was a member of the gold medal winning Japanese team at the 2015 FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan.[5]
Kurihara represented Japan in the basketball competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She had the third best three-point scoring percentage in the tournament.[3] This was despite her fracturing and separating a finger in the first match against Belarus.[6]
^"栗原 三佳" [Mika Kurihara]. Women's Japan Basketball League (in Japanese). Retrieved 15 October 2024.
^"Mika Fujitaka". FIBA.basketball. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
^ ab"トヨタ自動車の栗原三佳と西澤瑠乃が現役生活にピリオド…有終の美を飾る" [Toyota Motor Corporation's Mika Kurihara and Runo Nishizawa end their active careers... a fitting end]. BasketballKing.jp (in Japanese). 31 March 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
^"【リオ五輪、その後】栗原三佳(トヨタ自動車)度重なるケガの試練と向き合いながら『自分の仕事』をやり切ったシーズン" [[After the Rio Olympics] Mika Kurihara (Toyota Motor Corporation) A season in which she completed her job despite facing repeated injury challenges]. Basket-Count.com (in Japanese). 18 April 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
^"[新婚インタビュー]藤高宗一郎との結婚を発表した栗原三佳が語る「夫婦ともどもプレーヤーとして成長していきたい」" [[Newlywed interview] Mika Kurihara, who announced her marriage to Soichiro Fujitaka, says, "I want to grow as a player, together with my wife"]. Basket-Count.com (in Japanese). 25 May 2017.