| WNBA's Phoenix Mercury – No. 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Guard/Forward | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 May 1981 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 165 lb (75 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft | 11th overall, 2001 Cleveland Rockers |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | WNBA Info Page | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WNBA Teams | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cleveland Rockers (2001–2003) Phoenix Mercury (2004–2007, 2009–present) |
||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overseas Teams | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dandenong Rangers (1998–2002) Fenerbahçe Istanbul (2009–present) |
||||||||||||||||||||||
| Awards and Honors | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3× WNBA All-Star (2002, 2007, 2011) 2× WNBA Champion (2007, 2009) |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Medal record
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Penny Taylor (born Penelope Jane Taylor on 24 May 1981 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian professional basketball player. She currently plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA and Turkish team Fenerbahçe Istanbul[1][2] in the EuroLeague Women. In September 2006, she led the Australian Women's Basketball team (the Opals) to a gold medal at the World Championships, winning tournament MVP honours ahead of teammate Lauren Jackson.
Contents |
Taylor was born to English parents Michael Taylor and Denna Noble. She has a younger brother named Phillip and an older sister named Heather. Penny attended Upwey High School in Victoria.
Taylor posed nude in an Australian magazine, Black+White, that featured Olympic athletes who were set to compete in Athens in the 2004 Summer Olympics. The expensively printed magazine/book has been produced for the last three Olympic Games and, by the 2004 edition, was considered relatively uncontroversial in Australia with its "artistic" approach to nude photography and its equal coverage of male and female athletes.
She also holds English passport due to her parents' origin.[3]
Taylor played for Dandenong Rangers in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) from 1998 to 2002. She led the league in scoring with 25.5 points per game and steals with 2.5 steals per game during the 2000–01 season
She was selected by the Cleveland Rockers in the first round (11th overall) during the annual WNBA Draft on 20 April 2001. She starred for the Rockers for three seasons.
In January 2004, the WNBA held a dispersal draft, where the league's existing teams selected former players from the Rockers team. Taylor was selected as the first overall pick by the Phoenix Mercury.
In July 2007 she was chosen as a reserve for the WNBA All Star game, her 2nd and 3rd appearance
On 16 September 2007, Penny Taylor along with Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter led the Phoenix Mercury to the WNBA championship defeating the Detroit Shock in the final game 5 of the finals, 108 – 92, they became the first team to end out a finals series at an away venue in the WNBA.
Taylor sat out most of the 2009 season after having ankle surgery but returned to the Mercury mid-season and averaged 10.7 points off the bench. The Mercury went on to win the WNBA Championship that year, beating the Indiana Fever 3 games to 2, with Taylor making 2 clutch free throws down the stretch to help clinch the decisive game 94–86.
Taylor played for the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) during 1997–98.
She was named the WNBL's "Most Valuable Player" during the 2000–01 season and was selected to the WNBL All-Star Five team. She was also a member of the 1999 WNBL championship team.
In the 2004 Summer Olympics, Taylor was a member of the Australian women's basketball team that won the silver medal.
On 23 September 2006, Taylor was a member of the Australian women's basketball team that won the title of 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women, and was again named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the championship.
|
|
||||||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||