Jessica Gaspar (born December 7, 1976) is an American former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. She played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the University of North Carolina in and later professionally in Iceland where she won multiple awards and accolades.

Playing career

High school career

Gasper attended Dartmouth High School where she played basketball and was a four-time Eastern Athletic League All-Star. She averaged 26.4 points during her senior season. During the post-season, she averaged 31.2 points per game. During her four years at Dartmouth, the team compiled an overall record of 71 wins in 80 games.

College career

Gaspar played with the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

from 1995–1999, winning the ACC twice and advancing to the NCAA tournament three times (1997, 1998, 1999). During the second round of the 1997 NCAA tournament, as the Tar Heels where eliminating Michigan State, Gaspar tore her ACL in her left knee while driving to the basket.

Professional career

Gaspar joined

KFÍ The Vestri men's basketball team, commonly known as Vestri, is a basketball team based in Ísafjörður, Iceland. The club was founded in 1965 as Körfuknattleiksfélag Ísafjarðar and held that name until it merged with newly founded Íþrótta ...

in the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild kvenna for the 2000–01 season. She broke the Úrvalsdeild single game assist record on November 24, 2000, when she had 17 assists against

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano). It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...

, and led the team to a 10-6 record, securing third place and their first ever playoff appearance. Despite averaging 19.5 points and 13.5 rebounds, KFÍ got swept by

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavík merged with nearby Njar ...

in the semi-finals. Gaspar led the league in scoring (24.1 ppg), assists (5.3 apg) and steals (5.1 spg) while coming second in rebounds (10.0 rpg). For her efforts she was voted the Foreign player of the year. Gaspar joined UMFG for the 2001–02 season and won the Icelandic Cup with them after defeating

in the finals, 82-58. After averaging 21.5 points in the first 11 league games, she sustained a partial tear in the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in January, the same ACL she had surgically repaired at the end of her sophomore season at UNC in 1997, and missed the rest of the season. Despite the injury, she led the league in rebounds with 13.7 rebounds per game, set a league record for steals with 7.2 per game and was once again voted the Foreign player of the year. Due to the ACL injury, she retired from professional basketball following the season.

Coaching career

Gaspar served as an assistant coach to Ann Hancock at

UNC Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington, or University of North Carolina at Wilmington, (UNC Wilmington or UNCW) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system and enrol ...

during the 2004–2005 season.

Titles, awards and achievements

Titles

* ACC champion: 1997, 1998 * Icelandic Basketball Cup: 2002

Awards

* Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the Year: 2001, 2002

Achievements

Úrvalsdeild The Besta deild karla () is a professional association football league in Iceland and the highest level of the Icelandic football league system. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in I ...

scoring champion: 2001 *

assists leader: 2001 *

rebounding leader: 2002 *

steals leader: 2001, 2002

Film

Gaspar appeared in the 2002 comedy film

Juwanna Mann ''Juwanna Mann'' is a 2002 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Jesse Vaughan, written by Bradley Allenstein, and produced by Bill Gerber. The film stars Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Vivica A. Fox, Kevin Pollak, Tommy Davidson, Kim Wayans ...

which starred Miguel A. Núñez Jr.,

Vivica A. Fox Vivica Anjanetta Fox (born July 30, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She began her career on ''Soul Train'' (19821983) and played roles on the daytime television soap operas ''Days of Our Lives'' (1988) and ''Generations (American TV s ...

and

Kim Wayans Kimberly Nichole Wayans (born October 16, 1961) is an American actress. She is the sister of Keenen Ivory, Damon Sr., Marlon, Shawn, and Nadia Wayans and aunt of Damien Dante among others. She is best known for her numerous roles on the ...

External links

Tar Heels player profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaspar, Jessica 1976 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Iceland Basketball players from Massachusetts North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball players Point guards People from Dartmouth, Massachusetts Úrvalsdeild kvenna (basketball) players Grindavík (women's basketball) players Vestri women's basketball players