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Tamecka Dixon

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Tamecka Dixon
Personal information
Born (1975-12-14) December 14, 1975 (age 48)
Linden, New Jersey, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Listed weight148 lb (67 kg)
Career information
High schoolLinden (Linden, New Jersey)
CollegeKansas (1993–1997)
WNBA draft1997: 2nd round, 14th overall pick
Selected by the Los Angeles Sparks
Playing career1997–2009
PositionShooting guard
Number21, 20
Career history
1997–2005Los Angeles Sparks
2006–2008Houston Comets
2009Indiana Fever
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Women's Basketball
Representing USA
FIBA World Championship for Women
Gold medal – first place 2002 Nanjing Team Competition

Tamecka Michelle Dixon (born December 14, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. She played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2009 for three different teams, was part of WNBA championship teams in 2001 and 2002, was a three-time WNBA All-Star and announced her retirement prior to the 2010 WNBA season.

Early life

[edit]

Dixon attended Linden High School in Linden, New Jersey, where she was named a High School All-American by the WBCA.[1] She participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game in 1993, scoring ten points.[2]

College career

[edit]

For the Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball team, Dixon averaged 14.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.8 steals in 119 career games.[3] She was named Big 12 Player of the Year and was also named to the 1996–97 Kodak All-American Team.[4]

Kansas statistics

[edit]
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1993–94 Kansas 27 184 42.0% 18.8% 52.0% 4.2 1.6 1.0 0.3 6.8
1994–95 Kansas 30 338 47.5% 35.7% 64.0% 4.0 2.7 1.4 0.9 11.3
1995–96 Kansas 32 543 46.9% 20.0% 77.4% 4.2 3.2 1.9 0.3 17.0
1996–97 Kansas 30 624 45.0% 34.5% 74.1% 5.6 3.7 2.6 0.6 20.8
Career 119 1689 45.7% 28.8% 70.0% 4.5 2.8 1.8 0.5 14.2

USA Basketball

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In 2002, Dixon was named to the national team which competed in the World Championships in Zhangjiagang, Changzhou and Nanjing, China.[3] The team was coached by Van Chancellor. Dixon scored 3.4 points per game. The USA team won all nine games, including a close title game against Russia, which was a one-point game late in the game.[5]

WNBA career

[edit]

Dixon was selected in the first round of the 1997 WNBA draft (14th overall) by the Los Angeles Sparks. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 57 - 67 loss to the New York Liberty where she recorded 2 points and 2 assists.[6]

Dixon played for the Sparks for nine seasons (1997 - 2005), was selected as an all-star for three consecutive seasons (2001 - 2003), and won a WNBA championship with the team in two back-to-back seasons (2001 and 2002). Before the start of the 2006 season, Dixon would sign with the Houston Comets on February 28, 2006.[7] The 2006 season is the only season that Dixon made the playoffs with the Comets, but they were swept in the first round by the Sacramento Monarchs.

She was waived by the Comets on January 11, 2007[8] but was re-signed a month into the 2007 season on July 4.[9]

The Comets missed the playoffs in 2007 and 2008, finishing with a 13 - 21 and 17 - 17 record respectively. The Comets would also cease operations at the end of the 2008 season and a Dispersal Draft would be held in December 2008 to send all of the Houston Comets players to different teams. Unfortunately, Dixon (along with teammate Shannon Johnson) were the only Comets players that were eligible to be selected in the dispersal draft that were not chosen. The both of them thus became free agents and Johnson signed with the Seattle Storm while Dixon signed with the Indiana Fever.[10]

This 2009 season with the Fever ended up being Dixon's final year in the league. The Fever defeated the Washington Mystics and the Detroit Shock en route to the WNBA Finals (The 4th Finals appearance in Dixon's career). They battled the Phoenix Mercury in a grueling Finals series, even taking a 2-1 lead after game 3. Unfortunately the Fever would fall to the Mercury in games 4 and 5, thus losing the opportunity to win the title that year. Game 5 of the Finals series which was played on October 9, 2009, was Dixon's final WNBA game ever. The Fever lost the game 86 - 94 with Dixon recording 2 rebounds.[11]

After a lengthy 12 year career, Dixon announced her retirement on February 18, 2010. At the time of her retirement, Dixon was one of the four remaining players from the WNBA's inaugural season (along with Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson and Vickie Johnson). Speaking on her retirement, Dixon stated "I always wanted to go out on my own terms. After the Houston franchise disbanded, I was at a crossroads because I thought I would finish my career there. I was contemplating retirement then, but I still felt I had a little left to give the game and wanted to go out on my own terms.....I fell a little short of my goal to help Indiana obtain the championship. So I definitely thought about coming back for 2010. It was hard to come so close and fall short, but I do think now is the right time for me. I have no regrets in making this decision now".[12]

Career statistics

[edit]
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 Los Angeles 27 21 26.5 .456 .423 .773 3.0 2.0 1.8 0.2 2.1 11.9
1998 Los Angeles 22 22 32.3 .438 .356 .779 2.5 2.5 1.1 0.4 2.6 16.2
1999 Los Angeles 32 14 17.6 .387 .313 .738 2.1 1.7 0.5 0.1 1.2 6.8
2000 Los Angeles 31 31 28.5 .454 .353 .805 3.4 3.1 1.3 0.3 1.9 10.9
2001 Los Angeles 29 29 31.9 .417 .176 .791 2.9 3.9 0.9 0.1 2.5 11.7
2002 Los Angeles 30 30 31.9 .391 .351 .831 3.1 4.0 0.9 0.2 2.7 10.6
2003 Los Angeles 30 30 34.7 .437 .212 .883 4.2 3.0 1.2 0.3 2.3 13.7
2004 Los Angeles 32 21 28.5 .442 .455 .782 3.4 3.5 1.1 0.0 2.2 9.7
2005 Los Angeles 30 23 20.2 .409 .000 .850 2.2 2.6 0.8 0.1 1.3 5.3
2006 Houston 21 14 25.7 .404 .111 .821 2.6 2.3 0.6 0.1 2.5 7.0
2007 Houston 18 0 27.2 .439 .294 .861 3.2 3.2 1.3 0.3 2.1 12.0
2008 Houston 24 20 26.4 .403 .154 .857 3.2 1.8 1.0 0.1 2.0 9.0
2009 Indiana 32 1 13.3 .410 .400 .857 1.6 1.2 0.4 0.1 0.8 4.1
Career 13 years, 3 teams 360 256 26.3 .424 .309 .809 2.9 2.7 1.0 0.1 2.0 9.7

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1999 Los Angeles 4 0 10.5 .350 .000 1.000 2.0 1.3 0.8 0.0 1.3 3.8
2000 Los Angeles 4 4 31.8 .370 .500 .889 2.8 4.0 0.8 0.0 2.0 11.8
2001 Los Angeles 7 7 36.1 .482 .462 .818 2.4 4.1 1.3 0.3 2.9 13.6
2002 Los Angeles 5 4 29.4 .568 .500 .900 4.0 3.4 2.4 0.0 2.6 12.2
2003 Los Angeles 9 9 35.1 .426 .333 .963 3.2 3.2 1.6 0.2 1.2 12.2
2004 Los Angeles 3 3 33.3 .400 .000 .875 5.7 3.0 0.7 0.0 3.3 10.3
2005 Los Angeles 2 1 6.0 .500 .000 .000 0.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0
2006 Houston 2 0 22.0 .364 .000 .750 4.0 2.5 0.0 0.0 2.0 5.5
2009 Indiana 10 0 6.2 .346 .000 .600 0.7 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.5 2.1
Career 9 years, 3 teams 46 28 24.0 .435 .405 .880 2.6 2.5 1.0 0.1 1.7 8.5

Personal life

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Dixon has been a resident of Westfield, New Jersey.[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Past WBCA HS Coaches' All-America Teams". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 1 Jul 2014.
  2. ^ "WBCA High School All-America Game Box Scores". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on 2016-01-28. Retrieved 29 Jun 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Get To Know: Tamecka Dixon". Los Angeles Sparks. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  4. ^ Chapin, Dwight (1997-03-28). "Starbird copes with star status". SFGATE. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  5. ^ "Fourteenth World Championship For Women – 2002". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  6. ^ "New York Liberty at Los Angeles Sparks, June 21, 1997".
  7. ^ "COMETS: Houston Comets Sign Guard Tamecka Dixon, Waive Tamara Moore and Tari Phillips".
  8. ^ "Houston Comets waive Tamecka Dixon". 11 January 2007.
  9. ^ "Dixon returns to Comets". 3 July 2007.
  10. ^ "Fever sign 12-year veteran G Dixon to deal". 4 May 2009.
  11. ^ "Indiana Fever at Phoenix Mercury, October 9, 2009".
  12. ^ "Former Kansas Great Tamecka Dixon Announces WNBA Retirement". Kansas Jayhawks. 2010-02-18. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  13. ^ Alkaly, Ben. "Where Are They Now: Tamecka Dixon", WNBA. Accessed March 27, 2023. "Dixon said from her current home in Westfield, N.J. 'Growing up, I knew of a few women who had played oversees, but I was just elated to have an opportunity to play in my own country in front of family and friends.'"
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