Olympia Scott

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympia Scott, formerly known under her married name of Olympia Scott-Richardson, is an American professional basketball player in the WNBA and a college coach.

She was born Olympia Ranee Scott on August 5, 1976 in Los Angeles, California.


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[edit] High School and Stanford University

Olympia was named Parade Magazine's Second Team All-America during her senior year at St. Bernard High School in Playa del Rey, California.

While attending Stanford University, Scott played on their women's basketball team (known as the Cardinal) for four years (1994 to 1998). She averaged 12.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game during her four-year Stanford career. As a senior, she was named an Associated Press honorable mention All-American and was a Kodak All-Region selection. She also was selected to participate in the inaugural Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-Star game after leading the Cardinal in steals (48) and blocked shots (14) in 1998. She was named to the All-Pac-10 first team in both 1997 and 1998.

A member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Scott graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology.

[edit] Professional career

In the 1998 WNBA Draft, Scott was selected by the Utah Starzz in the second round (#11 overall).

She missed most of the following season, due to the birth of her daughter on April 7, 1999. She returned to play in four games for the Starzz before she and teammate Wendy Palmer were traded on July 29 to the Detroit Shock, in exchange for Korie Hlede and Cindy Brown.

She played for the Shock until just prior to the 2001 season, when she was traded to the Indiana Fever. Having been being used as a utility player since her WNBA debut, Scott became a member of the Fever's starting lineup for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

After sitting out the 2003 season due to a knee injury, she signed a free agent contract with the Charlotte Sting, for the 2004 season. After that season, she was traded along with her Charlotte teammates Nicole Powell and Erin Buescher, to the Sacramento Monarchs in exchange for Tangela Smith and a 2006 WNBA Draft second-round pick.

She spent the 2005 season with the Monarchs in a reserve role, but enjoyed the team's success as they went on to win the WNBA Championship, defeating the Connecticut Sun three games to one, in a best-of-five playoff.

On February 3, 2006, Scott, who had been a free agent after the 2005 season ended, signed a contract to return to the Indiana Fever. She played one year with the Fever, then was traded again, in March 2007, to the Phoenix Mercury.

Scott has also played in Russia for the Dynamo Moscow Region team and in Turkey for the Ceyhan club.

[edit] Coaching career

Scott once served as an assistant coach at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, and has also coached AAU basketball, as well as numerous camps and clinics.

In October 2004, she was named the head coach of the women's basketball team at William Smith College. Scott led her team to the Liberty League regular season and tournament championships, an appearance in the NCAA regional semifinals, and the program's first 20-win season (20 wins against eight losses) since the 1999-2000 season. The team's efforts resulted in Scott and her coaching staff being voted by the conference as the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year.

However, only two weeks after her Sacramento Monarchs team won the WNBA championship by defeating the Connecticut Sun, Scott resigned from her coaching position to devote herself fulltime to her playing career.

[edit] External links