Candice Wiggins

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Candice Dana Wiggins (Born February 14, 1987 in Baltimore, Maryland) was the starting shooting guard for Stanford University women's basketball team. Wiggins is the all-time leading scorer in Stanford women's basketball history and in the Pac-10 Conference women's basketball history. She was selected 3rd overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2008 WNBA Draft^[1].

Contents 1 Childhood 2 High school years 3 At Stanford 4 WNBA 5 U.S. National Team 6 Notes 7 External links

[edit] Childhood

Candice Wiggins was born in Baltimore, Maryland where her father, Alan Wiggins played Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. When Alan retired, he and his wife Angela, daughters Cassandra and Candice, and son Alan Jr. moved to San Diego, California. Candice's father died of AIDS soon after their move, when Candice was only 4 years old. When Candice was 3 she was hit by a car and almost lost one of her eyes. She still has the scar under that eye.

When Candice was in the first grade, she scored 30 points against 4th graders in basketball. By the time she was in 5th grade, she had to play on the boys' teams so she could play at a competitive level.

[edit] High school years

Wiggins attended La Jolla Country Day School in La Jolla, California for high school. She excelled at Volleyball, Track, and most of all Basketball. She was a four year letter-winner in both volleyball and basketball. In all four years of high school she was named CIF Division IV Player of the year for basketball. Candice was a McDonald's All-American as a Senior. She also led La Jolla Country Day to the state championship game in each of her four seasons, winning it twice. She also captained the United States Junior National Team that won gold. Candice excelled in the classroom, maintaining a 3.8 grade point average throughout her four years at the competitive La Jolla Country Day. She chose Stanford over Duke University and UCLA mainly because she felt the academics and athletics were the best combination in the country. Many high school recruiting services listed her as the best shooting guard in the nation and a top 5 player in the Class of '04.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] At Stanford

As a freshman, Wiggins led Stanford to a 32-3 record and an Elite Eight appearance. She averaged 17.5 points per game and was named both the Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year and Player of The Year. This was the first time in the conference history that a freshman won the Player of the Year Award. Candice, along with Georgia's Tasha Humphrey, was named National Co-Freshman of the Year. She made second team All-American and was a Kodak All-American, the only freshman on either list.

During her sophomore year, Wiggins led Stanford to a 26-8 record and another Elite Eight appearance where they lost to LSU. She averaged 21.8 points per game and made 90 three-pointers over the course of the season. She was again named Pac-10 Player of The Year and Second team All-American, as well as Kodak All-American.

As a junior, Wiggins led Stanford to a 29-5 record and a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the Cardinal were upset in Round 2 by Florida State, 68-61. She missed 5 games due to ankle and hamstring injuries, but averaged 16.9 points per game. Devanei Hampton of Cal won the Pac-10 Player of the Year Award this season. However, Wiggins was the only Pac-10 Player to be a Kodak All-American as she again made second team. In her senior season, Stanford started the season ranked #8 but moved up the polls with victories over #3 Rutgers (thanks to Wiggins hitting 2 free throws with 0.1 seconds left), and #10 Baylor. On December 22, Wiggins scored 21 points and led Stanford to a 73-69 overtime victory over 2007 NCAA champions Tennessee, Stanford's first win over Tennessee since the mid 1990s.

On January 31, 2008, Wiggins scored 18 points in a win over USC at Maples Pavilion and passed Kate Starbird as the all-time leading scorer in Stanford women's basketball history. On March 2, 2008, she scored 24 points against Washington State to pass Lisa Leslie as the all-time leading scorer in Pac-10 women's basketball history. She was named the Pac-10 Player of The Year for the 2007-2008 season, the third time she has received the award.

On March 24, 2008, she scored a career-high 44 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, and made 8 assists in a 88-54 win over UTEP as Stanford advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2008 NCAA tournament; a week later, her 41 points propelled Stanford to its first Final Four appearance since 1997, where they would reach the final before losing to the University of Tennessee.

On April 4, 2008, Wiggins was awarded the Lowe's Senior Class Award. The following day Wiggins was awarded the Wade Trophy as the best women's college basketball player in NCAA Division I.

Candice is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and became a member of the Omicron Chi Chapter in Spring 2007. She graduated from Stanford with a degree in communications in the spring of 2008.

[edit] WNBA

Wiggins was chosen as the third overall pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx.

On May 18, 2008, Candice Wiggins played in her first ever WNBA game. She scored 15 points, pulled down 4 rebounds, had 4 steals, and dished out 2 assist as the Minnesota Lynx beat the 2006 WNBA champions Detroit Shock 84-70.

[edit] U.S. National Team

Candice was invited to try out for the United States Senior National Team and was named as an injury replacement or alternate. Along with Candace Parker and Courtney Paris she was one of the only college players to be named to the team. She spent the summer of 2007 playing in Chile with different United States National teams and was eventually named United States Basketball Female Athlete of The Year for 2007. This award was previously won by Diana Taurasi.

Wiggins is 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 m) tall.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Stanford Univ. Athletic Profile

Awards
Preceded by Diana Taurasi	United States Basketball Female Athlete of the Year 2007	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Candace Parker	Wade Trophy winner 2008	Succeeded by Incumbent