LaToya Antoinette Sanders (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Pringle; born September 11, 1986), also known as Lara Sanders in Turkey, is an American-Turkish professional

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 ...

coach and former player. She currently serves as an assistant coach for the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Dream compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the ...

of 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). Sanders 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 ...

at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

before getting drafted by 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 ...

in the

2008 WNBA draft The WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which Women's National Basketball Association teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The 2008 draft was held on April 9. A lottery was held on Octobe ...

. Sanders played for seven seasons in the WNBA with the Mercury,

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

, and

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 of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...

. In 2019, her final season in the league, she won the championship with the Mystics. Sanders also played overseas in Israel, Turkey, Russia, and Italy. In 2012, she received Turkish citizenship and represented the

Turkey women's national basketball team The Turkey women's national basketball team is the women's basketball side that represents Turkey in international tournaments. They have come away from the EuroBasket tournaments with a silver medal in 2011 and bronze medal in 2013. Competi ...

, including an appearance at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. After her playing career, Sanders became an assistant coach, and later associate head coach, for the Mystics. In 2025, she was hired as assistant coach for the Atlanta Dream.

Personal life

Sanders was born in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where her parents were stationed in the Army. The family later moved to

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-Ameri ...

. She is the daughter of Reece and Sharon Pringle and has a younger sister named Shanice. Sanders is married to former UNC men's basketball player Byron Sanders.

High school

LaToya attended

Seventy-First High School Seventy-First High School is a high school located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It was formed by the consolidation of six schools in 1924. History Six schools in the Seventy-First Township consolidated in 1924 to form one: McPherson, Glen ...

. Sanders was named North Carolina's Miss Basketball for Class 4-A in her junior and senior years. She also was named first-team all-state both years. Sanders led Seventy-First to state titles in 2003 and 2004, winning tournament MVP honors on both occasions. As a senior, she totalled 25

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

, 18

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and seven blocks in the title game. Sanders set a state championship record with 28 rebounds in the 2003 title game. She also averaged 21.5 points, 14.2 rebounds and nine blocks in her senior season.

College career

Sanders attended the

. As a freshman at UNC she averaged 4.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. She played in 30 games and ranked fifth in the ACC with 1.5 blocks per game. In her junior year she had a breakout season in her first year as a starter. She started all 38 games for the Tar Heels, establishing a school record for games started and games played in a season. She was second on the team and fourth in the ACC in field goal percentage (.550) and second in blocks (3.18 per game). Her 3.18 blocks per game were good for fifth in the NCAA. She registered a block in every game and five or more on eight occasions.

North Carolina statistics

Source

Professional career

WNBA

Phoenix Mercury (2008)

Sanders was drafted in the first round of the

with the 13th overall pick by the

. In her rookie season, she played in 29 games and started 7. She averaged 13 minutes, 4.4 points, and 3.5 rebounds per game.

Minnesota Lynx (2009)

For the 2009 season, Sanders was traded to the

. She played in 17 games for the Lynx and averaged 9.4 minutes, 2.2 points, and 2.2 rebounds per game.

Los Angeles Sparks (2011)

In February 2010, Sanders signed with the

. However, she was waived in the training camp. She signed with the Sparks for the 2011 season and made the roster, playing in 20 games and averaging 11.1 minutes, 3.9 points, and 2.4 rebounds per game.

Washington Mystics (2015–2019)

After the 2011 season, Sanders took a leave from the WNBA, continuing to play overseas while preferring to spend at least part of the year with her family. Sanders returned to the WNBA for the 2015 season, signing with the

, who had held her rights since a trade in 2012. In June 2020, Sanders announced that she would forgo the

2020 WNBA season The 2020 WNBA season was the 24th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Washington Mystics were the defending champions. Planned changes to the league's schedule included an increase from 34 to 36 regular season games ...

, played in the Wubble, due to concerns of racism and the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

. On March 8, 2021, Sanders announced her retirement from professional basketball.

Overseas

Sanders started her overseas career in the 2008–2009 season in Israel with Maccabi Ramat Hen. From 2009 to 2017, she played for Kayseri Kaski S.K. of the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

. She joined

UMMC Ekaterinburg BC Ekaterinburg () is a Russian professional women's basketball team based in Yekaterinburg competing in the Russian Premier League, and until February 2022 in FIBA Europe's EuroLeague Women. Founded in 1938 as Zenit Sverdlovsk, the club had its ...

for the 2017–2018 season and won the

2017–18 EuroLeague The 2017–18 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague was the 18th season of the modern era of Euroleague Basketball and the eighth under the title sponsorship of the Turkish Airlines. Including the competition's previous incarnation as the FIBA Europe Champi ...

. In February 2019, she joined

Reyer Venezia S.S.P. Reyer Venezia Mestre, commonly known as Reyer Venezia or simply Reyer, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Venice, Veneto. The club currently plays in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the highest tier of basketball i ...

. In January 2020, she joined

Çukurova Basketbol Çukurova basketbol Mersin (ÇBK Mersin), for sponsorship reasons Çimsa ÇBK Mersin, is a Turkish professional women's basketball club based in Mersin, Türkiye. The club was founded in 2015 and currently competing in the Women's Basketball Su ...

National team career

Sanders obtained Turkish citizenship in 2012, adopting the name Lara Sanders. Becoming eligible for the

, she represented Turkey in the

2014 FIBA World Championship for Women The 2014 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, FIBA World Championship for Women, the 17th edition of FIBA's premier international tournament for women's national basketball teams, was held in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey from 27 September to 5 Oct ...

EuroBasket Women 2015 The 2015 EuroBasket Women, European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2015, was the 35th edition of the continental tournament in women's basketball, sanctioned by the FIBA Europe. The tournament was co-held in Hunga ...

, and the

Coaching career

In April 2021, soon after her retirement, Sanders was named an assistant coach for the Mystics. After the 2022 season, she was elevated to associate head coach. On January 6, 2025, Sanders was announced as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Dream.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, 17 , , 0 , , 9.4 , , .433 , , .000 , , .733 , , 2.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 2.2 , - , align="left" ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, 20 , , 0 , , 11.1 , , .473 , , 1.000 , , .889 , , 2.4 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 3.9 , - , align="left" ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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, 4 , , 0 , , 17.3 , , .500 , , .000 , , .846 , , 3.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.8 , , 2.5 , , 0.8 , , 7.3 , - , align="left" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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, 28 , , 25 , , 24.5 , , .607 , , .000 , , .869 , , 6.4 , , 1.6 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , 1.1 , , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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, 34 , , 34 , , 23.6 , , .506 , , .000 , , .892 , , 5.5 , , 1.9 , , 0.9 , , 1.4 , , 0.9 , , 6.1 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 7 years, 4 teams , 155 , , 66 , , 17.6 , , .503 , , .500 , , .840 , , 4.5 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 5.7

Playoffs

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, 9 , , 9 , , 26.4 , , .466 , , .000 , , .789 , , 5.8 , , 2.2 , , 1.2 , , 2.6 , , 0.6 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",

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, 9 , , 9 , , 23.1 , , .424 , , .000 , , .875 , , 3.4 , , 1.0 , , 1.3 , , 1.4 , , 0.3 , , 6.3 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 2 years, 1 team , 18 , , 18 , , 24.8 , , .444 , , .000 , , .815 , , 4.6 , , 1.6 , , 1.3 , , 2.0 , , 0.4 , , 7.0

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Latoya 1986 births Living people Abdullah Gül Üniversitesi basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Centers (basketball) Los Angeles Sparks players Minnesota Lynx players Naturalized citizens of Turkey North Carolina Tar Heels women's basketball players Olympic basketball players for Turkey Phoenix Mercury draft picks Phoenix Mercury players Basketball players from Fayetteville, North Carolina Turkish women's basketball players 21st-century Turkish sportswomen Washington Mystics players Naturalised basketball players 21st-century American sportswomen