Danielle Adams

Danielle E'Shawn Adams (born February 19, 1989) is an American forward-center for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball at Texas A&M. She is the first Texas A&M player to be named an Associated Press first-team All-American.[1] She also captured first team All-American honors from the WBCA.[2] She was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2011 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship, scoring 30 points.[3][4] The 30 points rank second in NCAA Championship Game history.[5]

Danielle Adams
No. 11 Connecticut Sun
PositionPower forward / Center
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1989-02-19) February 19, 1989
Kansas City, Missouri
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight239 lb (108 kg)
Career information
High schoolLee's Summit
(Lee's Summit, Missouri)
College
WNBA draft2011 / Round: 2 / Pick: 20th overall
Selected by the San Antonio Silver Stars
Playing career2011–present
Career history
20112015San Antonio Stars / Silver Stars
2011–2012GMO Pozzouli
2011–2014Maccabi Bnot Ashdod
2014–2016CJM Bourges Basket
2016–2017Maccabi Bnot Ramat Gan
2017–presentConnecticut Sun
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

College

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Adams began her college career at Jefferson College. She earned Junior College All-American honors both years at the school, and as a sophomore, led her team to a runner-up finish at the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Championship and a 34–1 record.[6] Following the completion of her sophomore year at the two-year school, she contemplated where to play the next two years. Two of the schools she considered were Louisville and Texas A&M. Although her coach recommended Louisville, she decided that Texas A&M would be a better choice to prepare her for the future.[7]

She came into A&M weighing 280 pounds. With support from the coaching staff, including conditioning coach Jen Jones, she slimmed down to 230 pounds her senior year.[8] As a result, she was able to play "longer and harder" which helped her to become a first team All-American. In her junior year, she came off the bench and played just over 23 minutes per game. As a senior, she started, and was able to play 35 minutes per game.[9]

To get to the Final Four, Adams would have to help her team beat Baylor, a task that has been difficult recently. Baylor beat Texas A&M in both regular season meetings, and in the Big Twelve conference tournament game. In that game, Texas A&M held a lead late, but could not hold on to win. In the Dallas regional Final, Texas A&M pulled out to a large lead, and was leading by 16 points almost halfway through the second half, when Baylor tried to mount a comeback. Baylor cut the margin to seven points, but could not get any closer, and Texas A&M went on to win the first game in their last nine meetings, and move on to the Final Four.[10]

In the National Championship game against Notre Dame, the Irish were leading at halftime by two points, but extended the lead with a 7–3 run to start the second half. During a media time out the Texas A&M coaching staff told Adams to go inside. She ended up scoring 30 points, second most in NCAA Championship history and earning the award for Most Outstanding Player. She is only the second player, after Sheryl Swoopes to come from the junior college ranks and go on to win a Most Outstanding Player award.[11] Swoopes is also the only player to score more than Adams in a title game.[12] After scoring only eight points in the first half, she scored ten consecutive points by herself in the second half, as part of a 15–5 run that gave the Aggies the lead. Notre Dame would tie the game later, but Adams responded with two consecutive baskets to give her team a lead it would never relinquish.[13]

Texas A&M statistics

Source[14]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009-10 Texas A&M 33 539 49.0 27.7 71.7 5.8 1.0 1.1 1.4 16.3
2010-11 Texas A&M 38 847 48.3 30.0 79.4 8.5 1.0 1.2 1.3 22.3
Career Texas A&M 71 1386 48.6 29.1 76.1 7.3 1.0 1.2 1.4 19.5

WNBA

Adams was selected in the second round of the 2011 WNBA Draft (20th overall) by the San Antonio Silver Stars.[15] On June 11, 2011, she scored 32 points against the Atlanta Dream, setting the franchise's rookie record.[16] She was also named the Rookie of the Month for the month of June.[17]

Adams was named as a reserve to the roster of the All-Star team for the 2011 WNBA All-Star game, along with Silver Stars teammate Becky Hammon. The reserves were selected by the twelve head coaches of the WNBA teams; each coach is not permitted to vote for their own players. At the time of the decision, Adams was the leading scorer among rookies in the league, with a scoring average of 15.6 points per game. She also received more write-in votes than any other player. Adams was one of four rookies on the All-Star team, the other three being Maya Moore, Courtney Vandersloot and Liz Cambage.[18]

Adams was suspended on July 29, 2015 by the WNBA for three games without pay due to violation of the league's Anti-Drug Policy for unspecified charges. Adams admitted she was guilty and apologized to her teammates and the community.[19] She was waived by the San Antonio Stars in April 2016.[20]

In February 2017, Adams signed a training camp contract with the Connecticut Sun.[21] In April 2017, she made the final roster for the team.[22]

Personal

She is the daughter of Tiffany Hill and has a younger sister

Awards and honors

  • 2009—State Farm/WBCA Junior College Player of the Year[23]
  • 2010—Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player[6]
  • 2011—NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player[3]
  • 2011—WNBA All-Rookie Team[24]
  • 2016—National Junior College Athletic Association’s women’s basketball Hall of Fame[25][26]

Further reading

  • "Danielle Adams Playerfile". WNBA. Archived from the original on 2012-06-22.

References

  1. "Danielle Adams, Brittney Griner named first-team All-Americans". KansasCity.com. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  2. "Past WBCA NCAA DI Coaches' All-America Teams". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 3 Jul 2014.
  3. Michelle Smith. "Women's NCAA tournament - Texas A&M Aggies' Danielle Adams stars on biggest stage - espnW". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  4. "KC's Adams, White lead Texas A&M to NCAA women's title". KansasCity.com. April 5, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  5. Associated Press. "Adams, defense power Aggies to title | The Augusta Chronicle". Chronicle.augusta.com. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  6. "Danielle Adams". Texas A&M. Archived from the original on April 23, 2011.
  7. Miller, Jeff (2010-03-16). "Slimmed-down Danielle Adams embraces role, spurs Texas A&M". USA Today.
  8. Stacy Clardie. "Aggies' Adams in charge all night | The Journal Gazette | Fort Wayne, IN". The Journal Gazette. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  9. Harris, David (Feb 25, 2014). "Danielle Adams put A&M 'on my back' on path to basketball championship". The Eagle. Retrieved 3 Jul 2014.
  10. Briggs, Jerry (March 30, 2011). "Aggies bound for Final Four". San Antonio Express News.
  11. Killion, Ann (April 6, 2011). "Once unthinkable, Texas A&M crowned champions for first time". Sports Illustrated.
  12. Smith, Tim (April 5, 2011). "Texas A&M's Danielle Adams (l.) scores 22 of her 30 points in the second half as the Aggies defeat Natalie Achonwa and Notre Dame on Tuesday night. > Texas A&M's Danielle Adams (l.) scores 22 of her 30 points in the… (Conroy/AP) Texas A&M, Danielle Adams beat Notre Dame, 76-70, to win Aggies' first-ever women's national title". New York Daily News.
  13. Gardiner, Andy (April 6, 2011). "Danielle Adams powers Texas A&M to title". USA Today.
  14. "Women's Basketball Player stats". NCAA. Retrieved 22 Sep 2015.
  15. "WNBA.com: 2011 WNBA Draft Board". www.wnba.com. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  16. "Adams scores 32 as Silver Stars down winless Dream". The Sports Network. Jun 11, 2011. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013.
  17. "Danielle Adams named Rookie of the Month for June". WNBA.
  18. "Danielle Adams and Becky Hammon Named All-Star Reserves". WNBA. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20.
  19. "San Antonio Stars' Danielle Adams Suspended - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  20. "San Antonio Stars Waive Danielle Adams - San Antonio Stars". San Antonio Stars. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
  21. "Connecticut Sun sign Danielle Adams to a training camp contract". Hoopfeed.com. 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  22. "Danielle Adams Grateful, Excited for Second Chance - Connecticut Sun". Connecticut Sun. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  23. "Past WBCA Players of the Year". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 3 Jul 2014.
  24. "Sun Sign Danielle Adams - Connecticut Sun". Connecticut Sun. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  25. "Former Lee's Summit star Danielle Adams chosen to NJCAA women's basketball hall of fame". kansascity. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  26. "Latest Hall of Fame class features Danielle Adams". NJCAA. 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
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