Alexandria Marie Bentley (born October 27, 1990) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. She played college basketball at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

. She represents the Belarus national team internationally.

Early life

She was born and raised in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

. Her parents are Jeff and Marie Wilson and she has one brother Jeff Wilson III and one sister Alana Bentley. Her biological father is Albert Bentley former NFL player for the Indianapolis Colts (1985 to 1991). She attended

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

games as a young girl, and later as an intern for the team. In high school, she helped her team earn a 30-0 record, a state championship, and a No. 1 ranking in the USA Today Super 25 poll. She averaged 15.7 points, 2.6 assists, 2.2 steals, and 3.2 rebounds in her senior year at Ben Davis High School Bentley was also named a Third Team Parade Magazine High School All-American. In the 2011-12 season, she earned All-Big Ten first team selection for the second time in her career, making her one of the nine players in school history with multiple first team accolades.

College career

While at Penn State, Bentley led the Big Ten in steals. Bentley majored in broadcast journalism and minored in sociology while at Penn State. She was the fourth player in Big Ten History and the second player in school history with 1,500 points, 500 assists, and 300 steals. During the 2010-11 season Alex Bentley became the eleventh Lady Lion in school history to earn a first team all big ten selection from the coaches. In Bentley's first Big Ten game against Nebraska during the 2011-2012 season she got a then career-high 8 steals. That was the most steals a Lady Lion had acquired in approximately ten years. During the 2010-11 season Bentley became the eleventh Lady Lion in school history to earn a first team all big ten selection from the coaches. She finished in the top fifteen of the big ten in scoring, assists, field goal percentage, free throw percentage, steals, and assist-to-turnover ratio.

Penn State statistics

Source

Professional career

WNBA

Bentley was selected with the 13th overall pick in the second round of the 2013 WNBA draft by the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real e ...

. In her rookie regular season she played in 34 games and started 10 of them. She averaged 22 minutes, 1.4 rebounds, 2.8 assist, and 8.3 points per game in her first regular season as a reserve for the Dream. The Dream were second in the Eastern Conference and advanced all the way to the

2013 WNBA Finals The 2013 WNBA Finals was the playoff series for the 2013 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Minnesota Lynx, champions of the Western Conference, defeated the Atlanta ...

but were swept by the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded ...

. Bentley averaged 17.5 minutes, 5.8 points, 2.0 assists and 1.8 rebounds per game in her rookie postseason. In 2014, Bentley was acquired by the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

in a three-team trade, which sent

Matee Ajavon Matee Ajavon (born May 7, 1986) is a Liberian American basketball player. A 5'8" guard, Ajavon was chosen by the Houston Comets as the fifth overall draft pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft. Early life As a child, Ajavon immigrated to the United Stat ...

and the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference ...

' 2014 second round draft pick to the Dream, as well as Kara Lawson and the Dream's 2014 third round draft pick to the Mystics. In her first season with the Sun, Bentley became the team's starting point guard. She finished the season averaging 12.2 points per game and a career-high 3.7 assists per game. In 2015, Bentley was moved to the shooting guard position in the Sun's starting lineup with the arrival of Jasmine Thomas. During the 2015 season, Bentley was voted into the 2015 WNBA All-Star Game, making it her first all-star appearance, and averaged a career-high 14.7 points per game by the end of the season. Also during the season, she scored a career-high 31 points in a win against the

. In 2016, Bentley started in all 34 games for the first time in her career, averaging 12.9 points per game. In a triple overtime loss to the Washington Mystics, Bentley tied her career-high of 31 points in 48 minutes of play. In 2017, Bentley re-signed with the Sun in free agency once her rookie contract expired. During the 2017 season, Bentley played mostly from the bench, starting in 9 of 31 games and averaging 8.4 ppg. In 2018, Bentley was traded to the

in July. After a season with Atlanta, she signed to the

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team plays ...

but was waived before the season began.

Overseas

In the 2014-15 WNBA off-season, Bentley played in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

for Tarbes Gespe Bigorre. In the 2015-16 WNBA off-season, Bentley played in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

for Yakin Dogu. In September 2016, Bentley signed with Adana ASKI SK of the Turkish League for the 2016-17 WNBA off-season. In 2017, Bentley signed with Nadezhda Orenburg of the Russian League for the 2017-18 WNBA off-season.

WNBA statistics

Regular season

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2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

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Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, 34 , , 10 , , 22.1 , , .398 , , .329 , , .711 , , 1.4 , , 2.8 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.1 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

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Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, 34 , , 30 , , 25.6 , , .433 , , .323 , , .755 , , 1.7 , , 3.7 , , 1.2 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

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, 25 , , 25 , , 30.0 , , .409 , , .336 , , .830 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.2 , , 1.1 , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 28.8 , , .385 , , .286 , , .785 , , 1.9 , , 2.5 , , 0.8 , , 0.0 , , 1.4 , , 12.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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, 31 , , 9 , , 23.7 , , .380 , , .278 , , .809 , , 1.9 , , 2.9 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 0.9 , , 8.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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, 19 , , 0 , , 21.7 , , .396 , , .304 , , .833 , , 1.4 , , 3.2 , , 1.3 , , 0.1 , , 1.6 , , 10.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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, 16 , , 0 , , 20.8 , , .376 , , .310 , , .529 , , 1.5 , , 3.4 , , 0.9 , , 0.1 , , 1.6 , , 8.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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, 29 , , 4 , , 21.9 , , .307 , , .235 , , .857 , , 1.9 , , 3.0 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 1.5 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 7 years, 2 teamS , 222 , , 112 , , 24.6 , , .387 , , .296 , , .781 , , 1.7 , , 2.9 , , 1.1 , , 0.1 , , 1.4 , , 10.6

Playoffs

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, 8 , , 0 , , 17.6 , , .279 , , .190 , , .889 , , 1.8 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , 0.3 , , 0.8 , , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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, 1 , , 0 , , 24.0 , , .500 , , .000 , , .500 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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, 5 , , 0 , , 24.0 , , .444 , , .320 , , .750 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 2.8 , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 3 years, 2 teams , 14 , , 0 , , 20.2 , , .375 , , .255 , , .789 , , 1.8 , , 2.0 , , 0.9 , , 0.1 , , 1.6 , , 9.2

Awards and honors

*2013— Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Alex 1990 births Living people Belarusian women's basketball players American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream draft picks Atlanta Dream players Basketball players from Indianapolis Connecticut Sun players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Penn State Lady Lions basketball players Point guards Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars 21st-century American women