Danielle Adams

Danielle Adams

WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars  – No. 23
Forward/Center
Born	February 19, 1989 (1989-02-19) (age 22) Kansas City, Missouri
Nationality	American
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	239 lb (108 kg)
College	Texas A&M
Draft	20th overall, 2011 San Antonio Silver Stars
Profile	WNBA Info Page
WNBA Teams
San Antonio Silver Stars (2011–present)
Awards and Honors
1× WNBA All-Star (2011) WNBA All-Rookie Team (2011)

Danielle E. Adams (born February 19, 1989 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American forward-center. She played college basketball at Texas A&M. She is the first Texas A&M player to be named an Associated Press first-team All-American.^[1] She also captured first team All-American honors from the WBCA.^[2] She was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2011 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship, scoring 30 points.^[3][4] The 30 points rank second in NCAA Championship Game history.^[5]

College

Adams began her college career at Jefferson College. She earned Junior College(JUCO) All-American honors both years at the school, and as a sophomore, lead her team to the JUCO national championship, helping the team to a 34–1 record.^[6] Following the completion of her sophomore year at the two year school, she contemplated where to play the next two years. Two of the schools she considered were Louisville and Texas A&M. Although her coach recommended Louisville, she decided that Texas A&M would be a better choice to prepare her for the future.^[7]

She came into A&M weighing 280 pounds. With support from the coaching staff, including conditioning coach Jen Jones, she slimmed down to 230 pounds her senior year.^[8]As a result, she was able to play "longer and harder" which helped her to become a first team All-American. In her junior year, she came off the bench and played just over 23 minutes per game. As a senior, she started, and was able to play over 30 minutes per game.^[9]

To get to the Final Four, Adams would have to help her team beat Baylor, a task that has been difficult recently. Baylor beat Texas A&M in both regular season meetings, and in the Big Twelve conference tournament game. In that game, Texas A&M held a lead late, but could not hold on to win. In the Dallas regional Final, Texas A&M pulled out to a large lead, and was leading by 16 points almost halfway through the second half, when Baylor tried to mount a come-back. Baylor cut the margin to seven points, but could not get any closer, and Texas A&M went on to win the first game in their last nine meetings, and move on to the Final Four.^[10]

In the National Championship game against Notre Dame, the Irish were leading at halftime by two points, but extended the lead with a 7–3 run to start the second half. During a media time out the Texas A&M coaching staff told Adams to go inside. She ended up scoring 30 points, second most in NCAA Championship history and earning the award for Most Outstanding Player. She is only the second player, after Sheryl Swoopes to come from the junior collage ranks and go on to win a Most Outstanding Player award.^[11] Swoopes is also the only player to score more than Adams in a title game.^[12] After scoring only eight points in the first half, she scored ten consecutive points by herself in the second half, as part of a 15–5 run that gave the Aggies the lead. Notre Dame would tie the game later, but Adams responded with two consecutive baskets to give her team a lead in would never relinquish.^[13]

WNBA

Adams was selected in the second round of the 2011 WNBA Draft (20th overall) by the San Antonio Silver Stars.^[14] On June 11, 2011, she scored 32 points against the Atlanta Dream, setting the franchise's rookie record.^[15]

Adams was named as a reserve to the roster of the All-Star team for the 2011 WNBA All-Star game, along with Silver Stars teammate Becky Hammon. The reserves were selected by the twelve head coaches of the WNBA teams; each coach is not permitted to vote for their own players. At the time of the decision, Adams was the leading scorer among rookies in the league, with a scoring average of 15.6 points per game. She also received more write-in votes than any other player. Adams was one of only three rookies on the All-Star team, the other two being Maya Moore and Courtney Vandersloot.^[16]

Awards and honors

• 2009—State Farm/WBCA Junior College Player of the Year^[17]
• 2010—Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player^[6]
• 2011—NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player^[3]

References

1. ^ "Danielle Adams, Brittney Griner named first-team All-Americans". KansasCity.com. http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/29/2762362/danielle-adams-brittney-griner.html. Retrieved 2011-05-09. 
2. ^ "The Address for Women's Basketball". Wbca.org. 2011-03-29. http://www.wbca.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/4/2/WBCA-and-State-Farm-Announce-2011-NCAA-Division-I-State-Farm-Coaches-AllAmerica-Team/. Retrieved 2011-05-09. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Michelle Smith. "Women's NCAA tournament - Texas A&M Aggies' Danielle Adams stars on biggest stage - espnW". Espn.go.com. http://espn.go.com/espnw/blog/_/post/6298879/women-ncaa-tournament-adams-stars-biggest-stage-takes-texas-ncaa-title. Retrieved 2011-05-09. 
4. ^ "KC's Adams, White lead Texas A&M to NCAA women's title". KansasCity.com. 2011-04-06. http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/05/2779779/two-local-stars-are-unlikely-teammates.html. Retrieved 2011-05-09. 
5. ^ Associated Press. "Adams, defense power Aggies to title | The Augusta Chronicle". Chronicle.augusta.com. http://chronicle.augusta.com/sports/college/2011-04-06/irish-aggies-crash-title-game-indy?v=1302054362. Retrieved 2011-05-09. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Danielle Adams". Texas A&M. http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/adams_danielle00.html. 
7. ^ Miller, Jeff (3/16/2010). "Slimmed-down Danielle Adams embraces role, spurs Texas A&M". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/womensbasketball/2010-03-15-danielle-adams-texas-am_N.htm. 
8. ^ Stacy Clardie. "Aggies' Adams in charge all night | The Journal Gazette | Fort Wayne, IN". The Journal Gazette. http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110406/SPORTS0302/304069964/1085/SPORTS03. Retrieved 2011-05-09. 
9. ^ AP (April 4, 2011). Statesman. http://www.statesman.com/sports/aggies/texas-a-ms-danielle-adams-tackles-weighty-matters-1375624.html. 
10. ^ Briggs, Jerry (March 30, 2011). "Aggies bound for Final Four". San Antonio Express News. http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/college_sports/aggies/article/Aggies-make-history-as-Blair-turns-tables-on-Lady-1313802.php. 
11. ^ Killion, Ann (April 6, 2011). "Once unthinkable, Texas A&M crowned champions for first time Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ann_killion/04/06/texas.am.baylor/index.html#ixzz1TRJ5nMgC". Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ann_killion/04/06/texas.am.baylor/index.html. 
12. ^ Smith, Tim (April 05, 2011). "Texas A&M's Danielle Adams (l.) scores 22 of her 30 points in the second half as the Aggies defeat Natalie Achonwa and Notre Dame on Tuesday night. > Texas A&M's Danielle Adams (l.) scores 22 of her 30 points in the… (Conroy/AP) Texas A&M, Danielle Adams beat Notre Dame, 76-70, to win Aggies' first-ever women's national title". New York Daily News. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-04-05/sports/29404822_1_aggies-muffet-mcgraw-texas-a-m. 
13. ^ Gardiner, Andy (4/6/2011). "Danielle Adams powers Texas A&M to title". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/womensbasketball/2011-04-06-danielle-adams-texas-am_N.htm. 
14. ^ http://www.wnba.com draft2011/draft_board.html 2011 WNBA Draft board
15. ^ "Adams scores 32 as Silver Stars down winless Dream". The Sports Network. Jun 11, 2011. http://www.wtsp.com/sports/wnba/article/196562/276/Adams-scores-32-as-Silver-Stars-down-winless-Dream. 
16. ^ "Danielle Adams and Becky Hammon Named All-Star Reserves". WNBA. http://www.wnba.com/silverstars/news/adams_hammon_named_allstars_110719.html. 
17. ^ "Past State Farm/WBCA Players of the Year". WBCA. http://www.wbca.org/awards/wbca-awards/players-of-year/past-poy/. 

External links

• Texas A&M bio
• WNBA Player Page

Persondata
Name	Adams, Danielle
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 19, 1989
Place of birth	Kansas City, Missouri
Date of death
Place of death