Chandi Jones (born March 25, 1982) is a 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. Jones is the daughter of Janice and David Jones , a former professional football player who later became a collegiate basketball coach.

High school

Born in

Wharton, Texas Wharton is a city in and the county seat of Wharton County, Texas, United States. This city is southwest of Houston. The population was 8,832 at the 2010 census and 8,627 at the 2020 census. Wharton is located on the Colorado River of Texas. U.S ...

, Jones was a basketball and long jump standout at

Bay City High School Bay City High School is a public high school located on Texas State Highway 35 on the western edge of Bay City, Texas, United States. School The school opened a new campus in 2002. During the 2015–16 school year, there were 1,002 students enro ...

Bay City, Texas Bay City is a city in Matagorda County, Texas, United States. The population was 17,614 at the 2010 census and 18,061 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Matagorda County. The current mayor is Robert Nelson. Geography According to t ...

. Jones was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2000 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored four points.

College

Jones attended college at

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, where she helped bring the women's basketball program to national prominence. During her freshman season, Jones tore an anterior cruciate ligament, and missed the final eleven games of the season. Even with the injury, she was awarded the

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

Freshman of the Year honor and was also named to the All-Conference first team. As a leader of the Lady Cougars, Jones helped the team advance to the finals of the 2002 Women's National Invitation Tournament, and to its first NCAA tournament berth in twelve years in 2004. She was named the Conference USA Player of the Year three times, and was subsequently named Conference USA women's basketball Player of the Decade. In 2005, Jones had her number (13) retired by the University of Houston, from which she graduated in 2004. She is currently the all-time leading scorer in school and conference history.

Houston statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Jones was a member of the USA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in

Mar Del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

. The event was held in July 2000, when the USA team defeated Cuba to win the championship. Jones averaged 4.0 points per game.

Professional

Following her collegiate career, Jones was selected by the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season ...

8th overall in the 2004 WNBA Draft before being traded 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. T ...

for

Shereka Wright Shereka Monique Wright (born September 21, 1981) is an American basketball player and coach. Career She is the head coach at UT Arlington. Wright retired from competitive basketball in 2006 and has worked as an assistant coach since, at Texas T ...

Erika Valek Erika Yaneth Valek (born April 9, 1982) is a former college basketball player for the Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball, Purdue Boilermakers. High school Born in Bucaramanga, Colombia to Janeth and Juan Carlos Valek, she played for Coronado ...

and

Sheila Lambert Sheila Monique Lambert (born July 21, 1980) is a retired basketball players who played in the WNBA. Born in Seattle, Washington, she was the seventh pick in the 2002 WNBA draft. She was a member of the WNBA Championship Detroit Shock in 2003. Bay ...

on draft day. On July 30, 2005 Jones was dealt to the Lynx along with

Stacey Thomas Stacey Thomas (born August 29, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. Career Thomas attended college at University of Michigan and graduated in 2000. She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 1997 and Big Ten Defens ...

and a draft pick for

Katie Smith Katie Smith (born June 4, 1974) is lead assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is the former head coach of the New York Liberty. A retired professional basketball player, Smith's primary ...

. After averaging 5.0 points per game in her first two seasons, ankle and knee injuries limited Jones to just six games in 2006. She averaged just 2.8 points and 6.3 minutes in those contests. On May 18, 2007, Jones was released by the Lynx. Jones played during the 2003-4 European women's basketball season for Maccabi Raanana in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and during the 2006–7 season for a club in

Budapest, Hungary Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. In 2007–8, Jones signed with Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, but was cut from the team after its first game of the season.

Notes

External links

WNBA Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Chandi 1982 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball players from Texas Detroit Shock players Houston Cougars women's basketball players Minnesota Lynx players People from Wharton, Texas Phoenix Mercury draft picks Shooting guards