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Andrea Congreaves

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Andrea Congreaves
Personal information
Born (1970-06-03) 3 June 1970 (age 54)
Epsom, Surrey, England
NationalityBritish
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight183 lb (83 kg)
Career information
High schoolCarshalton High School for Girls
(London, England)
CollegeMercer (1989–1993)
WNBA draft1997: 4th round, 26th overall pick
Selected by the Charlotte Sting
Playing career1997–2011
PositionPower forward / Centre
Number3, 11
Career history
1997–1998Charlotte Sting
1999Orlando Miracle
1999–2000CJM Bourges Basket
2000–2001Priolo
2001–2002Gran Canaria
2002Kumho Falcons
2002–2004Barcelona
2004–2005Alessandria
2005–2009Rhondda Rebels
2010–2011Nottingham Wildcats
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Melbourne Team Competition

Andrea Congreaves (born 3 June 1970) is a British former basketball player born in Epsom, Surrey who played professionally for the women's England's national team while also playing in the United States, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Britain throughout her career.[1] She is the former head coach of the Rhondda Rebels of the English Women's Basketball League (Division 1), and the current head coach of the Mansfield Giants of the English Basketball League (Division 2) as well as the women's team of the University of Nottingham.

College career

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Congreaves graduated from Carshalton High School for Girls in Carshalton, Sutton, in 1986. She played for the Carshalton High School girls' basketball team, and through a connection with her high school coach was eventually offered an athletic scholarship to attend university in the United States.

Congreaves enrolled in Mercer University, an American private liberal arts college located in Macon, Georgia.[2] While attending Mercer, she played for the Mercer Bears women's basketball team – the university's varsity women's team – from 1989 to 1993, and led the Lady Bears to two regular season championships in the Atlantic Sun Conference (1991, 1992). As a junior in 1991–92, and again as a senior in 1992–93, she led National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in scoring.[3] She was a first-team all-conference selection in 1991, 1992 and 1993, and was the conference player of the year in 1992 and 1993. After her senior season in 1992–93, she was selected as an All-American by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) – recognising her as one of the top ten women players in NCAA Division I college basketball.[4]

Congreaves graduated from Mercer University with a four-year bachelor of arts degree in 1993, and was inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame in 2013.

WNBA Career

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Congreaves was the first-ever British sportswoman to play in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the highest level professional league for women basketball players in the United States.[5] She was drafted in the fourth round (26th pick overall) of the 1997 WNBA draft by the Charlotte Sting and played her debut game on June 22, 1997.[6] On that day, the Sting loss to the Phoenix Mercury 59 - 76 although Congreaves was able to record 6 points and a rebound.[7] The Sting finished the season 15 - 13 and made the playoffs but were eliminated in the semi-finals by the Houston Comets.

The next season, Congreaves played less minutes per game than her rookie season (going from 23.5 to 15.5 minutes) and thus had lower productivity across the board. However, she was still able to average a helpful 4.3 points, 3 rebounds and 1.5 assists and helped the Sting improve to a 18 - 12 record. Even with the better record, the Sting were once again eliminated in the playoff semi-finals by the Comets.

On April 6, 1999, Congreaves was selected in the 1999 Expansion Draft and became a member of the newly formed Orlando Miracle.[8] She started in all 32 games of the season and averaged the highest minutes per game of her career (25.4). Even though the Miracle won 5 of their last 6 season games, they finished the season 15 - 17 and fell short of the playoff picture (making it Congreaves' first time missing the playoffs).

Congreaves did not play again in the WNBA after the 1999 season, but she would repeatedly sign contracts with the Miracle and then get subsequently waived by the team. On May 22, 2001, she was waived by the Miracle before the season started. And then a year later on May 24, 2002, she would be waived by the Miracle again after resigning but not playing a game for the team. Her final WNBA game was thus the last game of the 1999 regular season on August 21, 1999. The Orlando Miracle would lose to the Detroit Shock 68 - 74 in that game with Congreaves recording 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block.[9]

During her three WNBA seasons, she appeared in 84 of 90 games played by her teams, starting 58 of them, and scoring exactly 500 points in her career.[10][11]

Later career

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Congreaves also enjoyed a successful European career in lengthy spells in Spain and Italy, as well as one-season stops in Turkey (where she contributed to the double championship of Fenerbahçe at the 1998–99 season) and France, before signing for the Rhondda Rebels for the 2005–06 season.[5]

She was the key performer on England's national team that won the bronze medal in women's basketball at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, averaging 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.[5] England defeated Nigeria 78–75 in the women's consolation final to claim third place in the Games.

Mercer statistics

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Source[12]

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
 TO  Turnovers per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high  *  Led Division I
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1990 Mercer 27 404 .552 .182 .667 10.6 1.3 1.5 1.3 15.0
1991 Mercer 27 662 .633 .359 .755 9.7 1.6 1.3 0.2 24.5
1992 Mercer 28 925 .583 .416 .717 11.6 1.6 2.4 0.6 *33.0
1993 Mercer 26 805 .549 .323 .833 10.2 1.6 2.4 0.9 *31.0
Career 108 2,796 .580 .366 .753 10.6 1.5 1.9 0.8 25.9

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 Charlotte 28 16 23.5 .500 .409 .768 4.8 1.5 0.6 0.2 1.1 6.7
1998 Charlotte 24 10 15.5 .432 .294 .905 3.0 1.5 0.5 0.2 1.0 4.3
1999 Orlando 32 32 25.4 .500 .366 .830 3.2 1.1 0.8 0.2 1.5 6.5
Career 3 years, 2 teams 84 58 21.9 .485 .353 .815 3.6 1.3 0.6 0.2 1.2 6.0

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 Charlotte 1 1 32.0 .571 .667 .500 3.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 12.0
1998 Charlotte 1 0 6.0 .000 .000 — 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 0.0
Career 2 years, 1 team 2 1 19.0 .500 .500 .500 2.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 6.0

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Colin Jackson, "Raise Your Game: Andrea Congreaves," BBC (2012). Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  2. ^ Richard Taylor, "NBA: Jump up for Congreaves," The Independent (7 May 1997). Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  3. ^ Mark Bradley, "British Import Putting Her Stamp On U.S. Game," Chicago Tribune (2 February 1992). Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  4. ^ Women's Basketball Coaches Association, Players Awards, Past WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches' All-America Teams Archived 15 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  5. ^ a b c British Basketball, The Players, Andrea Congreaves. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  6. ^ WNBA.com, All-Time WNBA Draft List, 1997 WNBA Draft Archived 9 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Charlotte Sting at Phoenix Mercury, June 22, 1997".
  8. ^ "1999 Orlando Miracle Transactions".
  9. ^ "Orlando Miracle at Detroit Shock, August 21, 1999".
  10. ^ Basketball-Reference.com, Players, Andrea Congreaves. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  11. ^ WNBA.com, Players, Andrea Congreaves Archived 7 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  12. ^ "Women's Basketball Finest" (PDF). fs.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
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