Cindy Brown (basketball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Women's Basketball | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Seoul 1988 | United States | |
Cynthia Louise "Cindy" Brown (born March 16, 1965, in Portland, Oregon) is a retired American star basketball player, at the college, Olympic and professional levels.
[edit] College and Olympic career
Brown graduated from Long Beach State in 1987. There she set several career school records that still stand: blocked shots (318), steals (400) and rebounds (1,184). Her 2,696 college point total is second among 49ers only to LaTaunya Pollard, and ranks 15th all-time in NCAA history. Her combination of points and rebounds ranks her 8th all-time in NCAA history in that statistical combination. She set an NCAA record by scoring 60 points against San Jose State in 1987 in a game in which she set school standards by making 20 field goals and 20 free throws. A two-time all-American and a finalist for all of the major basketball awards as a senior, Brown led the 49ers to their first appearance in the NCAA Final Four in 1987, when the team won 33 games. She was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1992, and her college uniform number (#53) was retired in 2007.
Brown was also a member of several U.S. national teams, including the gold-medal-winning 1988 Olympic team.
[edit] Professional career
Because the U.S. lacked a women's pro league, Brown played professionally in Europe and Japan for almost a decade before she was selected by the Seattle Reign in the second round of the ABL Draft on June 19, 1996. A 6'-2" center/power forward, a tenacious rebounder and a strong inside scoring presence, Brown earned Second Team All-ABL honors following the 1996-97 season. She was assigned to the site of her college success, the expansion Long Beach StingRays on April 26, 1997. Before she ever reported to Long Beach, however, Brown signed with the rival WNBA.
The WNBA allocated Brown to the Detroit Shock prior to the 1998 season. In her first season with the Shock, she finished second in the WNBA in rebounding, and was mamed to the 1998 All-WNBA Second Team. Brown broke the Shock franchise record at Utah on August 10 by grabbing 21 rebounds in a game against Utah (a record which Cheryl Ford tied on June 22, 2003 at Connecticut, and which Ford broke on May 22, 2004 when she snagged 22 boards at San Antonio).
On July 29, 1999, midway through her second WNBA season, Brown was traded, along with Korie Hlede, to the Utah Starzz, for Wendy Palmer and Olympia Scott-Richardson. Brown played only 9 games for Utah, and retired from the WNBA following the 1999 season.
