Andrea Congreaves (born 3 June 1970) is a British former basketball player born in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

, Surrey who played professionally for the women's England's national team while also playing in the United States, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Britain throughout her career.Colin Jackson,
Raise Your Game: Andrea Congreaves
" BBC (2012). Retrieved 5 July 2014. She is the former head coach of the Rhondda Rebels of the English Women's Basketball League (Division 1), and the current head coach of the Mansfield Giants of the

English Basketball League The National Basketball League, or NBL for short, is a league competition representing semi-professional and amateur basketball clubs from England and Wales. It forms levels 2 to 5 on the British basketball pyramid, in line with the Scottish B ...

(Division 2) as well as the women's team of the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

College career

Congreaves graduated from Carshalton High School for Girls in

Carshalton Carshalton ( ) is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated around southwest of Charing Cross and around east by north of Sutton town centre, in the valley of the Rive ...

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

, in 1986. She played for the Carshalton High School girls' basketball team, and through a connection with her high school coach was eventually offered an athletic scholarship to attend university in the United States. Congreaves enrolled in

Mercer University Mercer University is a Private university, private Research university, research university in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the s ...

, an American private liberal arts college located in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...

.Richard Taylor,
NBA: Jump up for Congreaves
" ''The Independent'' (7 May 1997). Retrieved 5 July 2014. While attending Mercer, she played for the

Mercer Bears The Mercer Bears are the college athletics, athletic teams of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, United States. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia with an NCAA Division I athletic program and fields teams in eight men's and nine wom ...

women's basketball team – the university's varsity women's team – from 1989 to 1993, and led the Lady Bears to two regular season championships in the

Atlantic Sun Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

(1991, 1992). As a junior in 1991–92, and again as a senior in 1992–93, she led

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I in scoring.Mark Bradley,
British Import Putting Her Stamp On U.S. Game
" ''Chicago Tribune'' (2 February 1992). Retrieved 5 July 2014. She was a first-team all-

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

selection in 1991, 1992 and 1993, and was the conference player of the year in 1992 and 1993. After her senior season in 1992–93, she was selected as an All-American by the

Women's Basketball Coaches Association The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels. The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches. The mission of the WBC ...

(WBCA) – recognising her as one of the top ten women players in NCAA Division I college basketball. Congreaves graduated from Mercer University with a four-year bachelor of arts degree in 1993, and was inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame in 2013.

WNBA career

Congreaves was the first-ever British sportswoman to play in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA), the highest level professional league for women basketball players in the United States.British Basketball, The Players
Andrea Congreaves
Retrieved 5 July 2014. She was drafted in the fourth round (26th pick overall) of the

1997 WNBA draft The 1997 WNBA draft was the 1st draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were three d ...

by the

Charlotte Sting The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team disbanded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization ...

and played her debut game on June 22, 1997. On that day, the Sting loss to the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

59 - 76 although Congreaves was able to record 6 points and a rebound. The Sting finished the season 15 - 13 and made the playoffs but were eliminated in the semi-finals by the

Houston Comets The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...

. The next season, Congreaves played less minutes per game than her rookie season (going from 23.5 to 15.5 minutes) and thus had lower productivity across the board. However, she was still able to average a helpful 4.3 points, 3 rebounds and 1.5 assists and helped the Sting improve to a 18 - 12 record. Even with the better record, the Sting were once again eliminated in the playoff semi-finals by the Comets. On April 6, 1999, Congreaves was selected in the 1999 Expansion Draft and became a member of the newly formed

Orlando Miracle The Orlando Miracle were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Orlando, Florida. It began play in the 1999 WNBA season. The Miracle relocated, in 2003, to Uncasville, Connecticut, where the team became the Connecticut ...

. She started in all 32 games of the season and averaged the highest minutes per game of her career (25.4). Even though the Miracle won 5 of their last 6 season games, they finished the season 15 - 17 and fell short of the playoff picture (making it Congreaves' first time missing the playoffs). Congreaves did not play again in the WNBA after the 1999 season, but she would repeatedly sign contracts with the Miracle and then get subsequently waived by the team. On May 22, 2001, she was waived by the Miracle before the season started. And then a year later on May 24, 2002, she would be waived by the Miracle again after resigning but not playing a game for the team. Her final WNBA game was thus the last game of the 1999 regular season on August 21, 1999. The Orlando Miracle would lose to the

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. Th ...

68 - 74 in that game with Congreaves recording 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block. During her three WNBA seasons, she appeared in 84 of 90 games played by her teams, starting 58 of them, and scoring exactly 500 points in her career.Basketball-Reference.com, Players
Andrea Congreaves
Retrieved 5 July 2014.WNBA.com, Players
Andrea Congreaves
. Retrieved 5 July 2014.

Later career

Congreaves also enjoyed a successful European career in lengthy spells in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, as well as one-season stops in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

(where she contributed to the double championship of Fenerbahçe at the 1998–99 season) and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, before signing for the Rhondda Rebels for the 2005–06 season. She was the key performer on England's national team that won the bronze medal in

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, averaging 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. England defeated Nigeria 78–75 in the women's consolation final to claim third place in the Games.

Mercer statistics

Source

Career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;",

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 28 , , 16 , , 23.5 , , .500 , , .409 , , .768 , , 4.8 , , 1.5 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 1.1 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 24 , , 10 , , 15.5 , , .432 , , .294 , , .905 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 1.0 , , 4.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

, 32 , , 32 , , 25.4 , , .500 , , .366 , , .830 , , 3.2 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 1.5 , , 6.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 3 years, 2 teams , 84 , , 58 , , 21.9 , , .485 , , .353 , , .815 , , 3.6 , , 1.3 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 1.2 , , 6.0

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 1 , , 1 , , 32.0 , , .571 , , .667 , , .500 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 12.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 1 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , — , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 2 years, 1 team , 2 , , 1 , , 19.0 , , .500 , , .500 , , .500 , , 2.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 1.5 , , 6.0

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Congreaves, Andrea 1970 births Living people Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games British expatriate basketball people in Spain British expatriate basketball people in Turkey Fenerbahçe women's basketball players British expatriate basketball people in the United States British women's basketball players Centers (basketball) Charlotte Sting players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in basketball English women's basketball players Mercer Bears women's basketball players Orlando Miracle players Power forwards Sportspeople from Epsom Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 21st-century English sportswomen