Brittney Griner
| Brittney Griner | |
|---|---|
| College | Baylor |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Position | Center |
| Jersey # | 42 |
| Class | Junior |
| Height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |
| Weight | 175 lb (79 kg) |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | October 18, 1990 Houston, Texas |
| Awards | |
| 2009 McDonald's All-American 2009 State Farm/WBCA High School Player of the Year |
|
Brittney Yevette Griner (born October 18, 1990) is an American college women's basketball player at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.[1][2] Standing 6'8" tall, Griner wears a men's US size 17 or 18 shoe and has a wingspan of 86".[3][4]
In 2009, Griner was named the nation's #1 high school women's basketball player by Rivals.com.[3] Griner was selected to the 2009 McDonald's All-American basketball team.[5]
Contents |
[edit] Basketball
[edit] High school
Griner attended Nimitz High School in Houston. In addition to basketball, as a freshman Griner played varsity volleyball.
During Griner's senior year, Brittney led the Cougars to the Texas 5A girls basketball state championship game, where they lost 52-43 to Mansfield Summit High School. In addition, Griner dunked 52 times in 32 games as a senior. Griner set a single-game record with seven dunks against Aldine High School.[6] The mayor of Houston Bill White declared May 7, 2009, Brittney Griner Day.
Griner was named a WBCA All-American and participated in the 2009 WBCA High School All-America Game, leading the team by scoring 20 points and collecting 9 rebounds.[7]
[edit] College career
Griner recorded one of the first women's collegiate dunks, the first being Georgeann Wells of West Virginia University.[8]
On December 16, 2009, Griner recorded Baylor's first triple-double[9] with 34 points, 13 rebounds, and Big 12 Conference record 11 blocked shots. The 34 points and 11 blocks were career highs.
On January 2, 2010, Griner recorded the second and third dunks of a quality college career[10] in a blowout game vs. Texas State University. Griner became the second woman to dunk twice in a single college game. Baylor would win that game by 81 points defeating Texas State 99-18.
Griner is only the seventh player to dunk during a women's college basketball game.[11]
As a true freshman, Griner became established as one of the greatest shot blockers in all of women's basketball history. At the conclusion of Brittney's freshman year, Griner had set the all time record for blocked shots in a single season by a college female player(all divisions) by rejecting 223 shots.[12] On March 22, Griner set an NCAA tournament record with 14 blocked shots in a 49-33 win against the Georgetown Hoyas.[13]
On March 29, Griner led the Lady Bears to the Final Four. In the Elite Eight game just before, in which Baylor defeated Duke 51-48, Griner blocked 9 shots, totaling 35 for the tournament, a new NCAA Women's Tournament record. Duke's Alison Bales had held the previous record of 30 blocks in the 2006 NCAA Women's Tournament.[14] On April 3rd, 2011 an ESPN poll was taken before the Stanford - Texas A & M semi-final basketball game saying that 63% of Americans were disappointed that Brittney Griner and the Baylor girls basketball team did not make it past the quarterfinals. Many of the people who participated in the on-line poll said they would very much like to see women dunk in NCAA basketball.
[edit] Punching Incident
On March 3, 2010, Griner was ejected from a game for punching Texas Tech player Jordan Barncastle in the face after Barncastle tried to throw Griner to the floor on multiple occasions. The punch thrown by Griner broke Barncastle's nose. Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey imposed a one-game suspension in addition to the one-game suspension mandated by NCAA rules.[15][16]
[edit] Honors
Along with being selected as the number one high school player in the country by Rivals.com, Griner was featured on the cover of ESPN's Rise magazine,[17] and was selected by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association as the 2009 State Farm/WBCA High School Player of the Year.[17]
[edit] References
- ^ "Houston rocket: Nimitz 6-6 sophomore Brittney Griner is taking off", SI.com, January 16, 2007.
- ^ "Baylor Women's Basketball Player Bio"
- ^ a b Jeff Fedotin, Griner named nation's no. 1 player, Yahoo Sports. Retrieved 03-02-2009.
- ^ "Could 6'8" Brittney Griner play in the NBA?", Yahoo! Sports, February 12, 2008.
- ^ McDonald's Girls All-American Teams Announced
- ^ http://www.baylor.edu/lariat/news.php?action=story&story=64166
- ^ "2009 WBCA High School All-America Game". WBCA. http://www.wbca.org/education/wbca-events/wbca-high-school-all-america-game/box-scores/. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgeann_Wells
- ^ Brittney Griner has triple-double, misses 3 dunks
- ^ Brittney Griner dunks twice, Baylor wins by 81 (video),
- ^ "Griner Dunks Twice in WBB's 99-18 Win". Baylorbears.com. 2010-01-02. http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/010210aac.html. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
- ^ . http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/griner_brittney00.html.
- ^ ESPN (2010-03-22). "Georgetown Hoyas vs. Baylor Lady Bears - Recap". Scores.espn.go.com. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=300810239. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
- ^ Mar 29, 8:30 pm EDT (2010-03-30). "Griner sets NCAA tournament mark for blocked shots". Rivals.yahoo.com. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/news?slug=ap-ncaa-griner-blocks. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
- ^ "Griner punches Barncastle after foul", ESPN.com, March 4, 2010.
- ^ "Baylor Freshman Suspended for Punching Opponent in the Face", AP in New York Times, March 4, 2010.
- ^ a b Yolande Lezine, Another Honor For Brittney, Feb 17, 2009. Retrieved 03-02-3009.
[edit] External links
- brittney-griner.com
- High School Girl Dunker
- Britney Griner, Basketball Player, Helps Redefine Beauty
- griner42.com
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