Jackie Stiles

Jackie Marie Stiles (born December 21, 1978 in Kansas City, Kansas) is a basketball shooting guard who set scoring records in college, and then played briefly in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

She attended Missouri State University (formerly Southwest Missouri State University) in 1998-2001. While there, Stiles became the first and so far only NCAA Division I women’s player to score more than 1,000 points in a season, scoring 1,062 in her senior year. That year, she won the Wade Trophy, which honors the best women's basketball player in the college ranks, as well as the Broderick Cup, which honors the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.

Her pro career started promisingly. In the 2001 WNBA Draft, she was selected fourth overall by the Portland Fire, and was later voted the Rookie of the Year on August 16, 2001. But since that high point, Stiles has suffered numerous injuries, including 13 surgeries, which has greatly hampered her WNBA career.

After the Fire folded in 2002, Stiles was selected 14th by the Los Angeles Sparks, but did not play that season, due to spending rehabilitation time for her injuries. She left the WNBA after that season, though her WNBA rights are still owned by the Sparks.

In 2004, Stiles signed with the Lubbock Hawks (in Lubbock, Texas) of the National Women's Basketball League (NWBL). This also proved unsuccessful, but Stiles has embraced a new sport in which she is apparently having more success: competitive cycling [http://www.webkrafts.com/stiles/news/or072105.htm] .

On September 29, 2006, the "Canberra Times" reported that Stiles will be returning to basketball, to play for the Canberra Capitals in the Women's National Basketball League in Australia.

Stiles' younger sister, Roxanne, led Claflin High School to back-to-back Class 1A state championships in Kansas in 2005 and 2006, has followed in her sister's footsteps by playing basketball at Missouri State.

Jackie was one of 11 honorees inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in the Class of 2007.

External links

* [http://www.webkrafts.com/stiles Jackie Stiles fan site]
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=2331982 ESPN article on Stiles' 41-point game during the 2001 NCAA tournament regional semi-finals]
* [http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=sport&subclass=basketball&story_id=513380&category=Basketball&m=9&y=2006 September 29, 2006 "Canberra Times" article on Stiles' return to basketball]