Sancho Lyttle

Sancho Lyttle
No. 31 – Phoenix Mercury
Position Power forward / Center
League WNBA
Personal information
Born (1983-09-20) September 20, 1983
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Nationality Spanish
Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight 175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
College
WNBA draft 2005 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5th overall
Selected by the Houston Comets
Playing career 2005–present
Career history
2005–2008 Houston Comets
2006–2009 CB Puig d'en Valls
2009–2017 Atlanta Dream
2009–2011 CB Avenida
2011–2012 Ros Casares Valencia
2012–2015 Galatasaray
2015–present UMMC Ekaterinburg
2018–present Phoenix Mercury
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Medals
Representing  Spain
World Championships
2014 Turkey
2010 Czech Republic
EuroBasket
2013 France
2017 Czech Republic

Sancho Lyttle (born September 20, 1983) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Combining the WNBA and the European season, she has won six domestic leagues and four Euroleague titles with four teams in three countries. She was born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and was granted Spanish nationality in June 2010. With the Spanish basketball team she has won four medals between 2010 and 2017.[1]

Early life

Sancho Lyttle was born to Evelyn Little and Ian Cain. Members of her family spell their surname 'Lyttle' or 'Little'. Sancho has a younger brother, Xavier Little. Sancho attended St. Vincent Girls' High School where she played net ball and ran various Track and Field events. She never played basketball until prompted to do so after her move to the United States. She and three other girls from her country were requested by her Junior College and current assistant coach for the University of Houston Women's team Wade Scott who offered to teach them how to play the game of basketball.

College years

Sancho Lyttle played collegiate basketball at Clarendon College before transferring to the University of Houston from 2003–2005 where she currently holds the record for single season rebound average (2004–2005), offensive rebounds (04-05) and most rebounds in a single season (04-05). She also holds the career record for highest rebounding average.

Club career in the WNBA

When the Houston Comets folded in 2008, she was selected first in the dispersal draft by the Atlanta Dream.

She currently plays the power forward position for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. Throughout her career, she has scored 1,505 points, collected 1,041 rebounds, and has 200 assists, 242 steals, and 96 blocks through six seasons. She was the fifth overall draft pick in the 2005 WNBA Draft out of Houston.

In 2010, she had career highs in points and rebounds with 27 and 20, respectively.

On February 1, 2018, Lyttle signed with the Phoenix Mercury after spending the previous 9 seasons with the Atlanta Dream.[2] However, her season ended early when she tore her ACL on June 30, 2018.[3]

WNBA stats

Season Team GP MPG PPG RPG APG
2005 Houston Comets 33 13.9 4.2 3.8 0.5
2006 Houston Comets 29 13.1 3.7 3.9 0.3
2007 Houston Comets 31 16.3 5.9 5.3 1.0
2008 Houston Comets 27 18.1 8.2 6.2 0.9
2009 Atlanta Dream 34 27.4 13.0 7.5 1.5
2010 Atlanta Dream 32 29.1 12.8 9.92 2.2
2011 Atlanta Dream 22 26.2 10.0 6.3 2.1
2012 Atlanta Dream 34 31.6 14.0 7.6 2.5
2013 Atlanta Dream 6 30.0 14.3 8.5 2.5
2014 Atlanta Dream 34 31.3 12.2 9.0 2.4
2015 Atlanta Dream 24 30.0 10.3 8.3 2.2
2016 Atlanta Dream 19 30.1 7.6 7.8 1.8
2017[4] Atlanta Dream 29 28.3 6.4 7.1 1.6
2018 Phoenix Mercury 18 23.3 7.9 5.3 1.4
TOTAL[5] 372 24.9 9.2 6.8 1.6
Woman bending forward wearing jersey from Galatasaray
Lyttle in 2014

Club career in Europe

Simultaneously to her WNBA career, she has played in Spain[6][7], Turkey and Russia, winning one Euroleague and at least one domestic league playing for every club. She currently plays for Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg

Euroleague stats

Euroleague champion
Season Team GP MPP PPP RPP APP
2009-10 Spain Halcón Avenida 15 30.5 17.6 10.8 1.6
2010-11 Spain Halcón Avenida 16 31.1 13.9 9.8 1.3
2011-12 Spain Ros Casares 17 26.8 12.8 7.4 2.4
2012-13 Turkey Galatasaray S.K. 17 25.6 11.6 7.2 1.3
2013-14 Turkey Galatasaray S.K. 14 28.4 13.6 8.3 1.8
2014-15 Turkey Galatasaray S.K. 13 30.5 11.1 9.1 1.9
2015-16 Russia UMMC Ekaterinburg 17 23.8 7.8 7.6 1.9
2016-17 Russia UMMC Ekaterinburg 13[8] 20.6 5.8 5.9 1.8
Total 122 27.1 11.7 8.2 1.7

National team

Lyttle played her first and only tournament with native Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2004, at the Caribbean championship[9].

After her naturalization was granted in 2010,[10] she made her debut with the senior Spanish team in 2010, days after turning 27. Up to 2017, she had 45 caps with 15.6 PPG and 9.5 RPP, participating in two World Championships and three European Championships. After helping the team qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio in mid-June, she missed the Games after breaking her toe in mid-July playing for the Atlanta Dream[11][12]:

Awards and achievements

Notes

  • First WNBA player from St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Sophia Young was the first WNBA player from St. Vincent)
  • Did not play basketball until she was 17 years old
  • Is one of only six players to ever record a slam dunk in a collegiate basketball game while with the University of Houston.
  • Was hospitalized for a number of days in 2010 after being knocked unconscious for a little over a minute by an incidental elbow during a game. Recovered and played 13 days later.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "archive.fiba.com: Players". www.fiba.basketball. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  2. ↑ "Mercury Signs All-Star Forward Sancho Lyttle". mercury.wnba.com. February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Mercury Forward Sancho Lyttle Out For Season With Torn ACL". mercury.wnba.com. July 2, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Stats - Atlanta Dream". Atlanta Dream. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  5. ↑ "Sancho Lyttle - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  6. ↑ Offseason 2008–09: Overseas Roster
  7. ↑ "Federación Española de Baloncesto - Competiciones FEB". competiciones.feb.es. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  8. ↑ "Sancho LYTTLE at the EuroLeague Women 2017 - FIBA.basketball". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  9. ↑ "St.Vincent and the Grenadines | 2004 CBC Championship for Women | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM". www.fiba.basketball. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  10. ↑ "La selección española 'ficha' a Sancho Lyttle, una de las mejores jugadoras del mundo - MARCA.com". www.marca.com. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  11. ↑ Hill, Jordan. "Dream lose forward Sancho Lyttle for rest of regular season". ajc. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  12. ↑ "Duro golpe para España: Sancho Lyttle se lesiona en la WNBA no estará en los Juegos". Gigantes del Basket (in Spanish). 2016-07-17. Retrieved 2017-10-01.
  13. ↑ "Moore named MVP of 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women, headlines All-Star Five". FIBA.com. 05/10/2014. Retrieved 5 Oct 2014. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ↑ Lyttle rebounds from big blow
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