Tamika Williams
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Tamika Maria Williams (born April 12, 1980, in Dayton, Ohio) is a professional basketball player. She currently plays for the Minnesota Lynx in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
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[edit] High school years
Williams started playing organized basketball at age 9 in the Dayton Lady Hoopstars AAU program, played on Lady Hoopstar teams which won one national AAU age group championship and finished in top four twice.
Williams had a stellar basketball career at Chaminade-Julienne, a Catholic high school in Dayton, Ohio. She was named the 1997 and 1998 Ohio Player of the Year and was named in the 1997-98 Associated Press girls Division I All-Ohio high school basketball team. She was also named "Ohio's Miss Basketball" by the Associated Press and chosen by a state-wide media panel.
After graduating from Chaminade-Julienne, Williams was heavily recruited by numerous collegiate teams. In 1997, she was the subject of a seven-page feature in a November 1997 issue of a Sports Illustrated magazine article on the pressures of being recruited.
[edit] College years
Williams attended the University of Connecticut, majored in interpersonal communications, and served as President of UConn's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. From 1998 to 2002 she was part of the UConn basketball team, which became NCAA Division I National Championship teams in 2000 and 2002 under coach Geno Auriemma.
She completed her four-year collegiate career in 2002 with averages of 10.6 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per game. She finished as UConn's all-time leader in field goal percentage at 70.3% (560-for-797). She also holds the Huskies' top four single-season marks for field goal percentage, ranked 14th on UConn's all-time scoring list with 1,402 points, and finished 10th all-time in rebounding (763).
In recent years, she has been spending the WNBA off-season working on getting a master's degree in sports management at Ohio State University, while serving as an Assistant Coach for their women's basketball team.
[edit] WNBA career
During the 2002 WNBA Draft, the Minnesota Lynx selected Williams in the first round, sixth overall. In 2003, she set a WNBA single-season record for field-goal accuracy, with a percentage of 66.8%.
[edit] Vital statistics
- Position: Forward
- Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.8 m)
- College: University of Connecticut
- Team(s): Minnesota Lynx
