Morenike Olayinka Atunrase (born April 14, 1986) is an American

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 who played for the WNBA's

San Antonio Silver Stars The San Antonio Stars were a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before th ...

during the 2008 season. She was drafted in

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 ...

out of

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, where she played from 2004–08.

Early years

Atunrase attended Southwood High School in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

, where she played basketball all four years. As a freshman and sophomore, she was named to the all-state second team. As a junior and senior, she garnered Louisiana's

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

honor. She helped her team win the state championship both her sophomore and junior years. As a senior, she was also named Player of the Year by the ''

Shreveport Times ''The Times'' is a Gannett daily newspaper based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Its distribution area includes 12 parishes in Northwest Louisiana and three counties in East Texas. Its coverage focuses on issues affecting the Shreveport-Bossier market ...

''. She also picked up honorable mention

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors by

Street & Smith's Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc., was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...

. Over her high school career, Atunrase averaged 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Texas A&M

As a freshman in the 2004–05 season, Atunrase was named

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

Rookie of the Week three times, and became the Big 12 Freshman of the Year after the regular season. As a sophomore, she was Big 12 Player of the Week for one week. She was also named to the All-Big 12 First Team. In her junior year, she was named to the preseason All-Big 12 team, and became a preseason

Naismith Trophy The Naismith Trophy is a trophy awarded to the men's champion of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, and is named in honor of basketball's inventor, James Naismith. The trophy was first awarded to the winner of the 1967 FIBA World Championship. The ...

candidate. She also guided the team to their first-ever regular season conference championship. Atunrase had to get surgery in October 2007 to correct a non-healing stress fracture in her

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

, causing her to miss the first nine games. She received the Big 12

Sixth Man The sixth man in basketball is a player who is not a starting lineup, starter but comes off the bench much more often than other reserves, often being the first player to be substituted in, and the first to be used against the other team's subst ...

Award her senior season. In the 2008 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament, she guided the team to their first Elite Eight appearance in program history. She became the Aggies' all-time leading shot blocker with her 175 blocks.

Texas A&M statistics

Source

Professional career

WNBA

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 ...

, Atunrase was picked by 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 ...

at No. 24. Immediately following the draft, she was traded to the

. The Stars also acquired

Ann Wauters Ann Hilde Willy Wauters (born 12 October 1980) is a Belgian former professional basketball player and coach, most recently serving as an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played for nu ...

and a 2009 second round draft pick as part of the trade. Atunrase became the only rookie or free agent to become a part of the Star's team roster. In her rookie season, she participated in 33 games, averaging 10.5 minutes per game. She scored a season-high of nine points against 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 ...

on June 24, 2008. In the 2008 WNBA Playoffs, she averaged 1.3 points, 0.9 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.1 steals, and 0.1 blocks. Her team ended up losing 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 ...

in the Finals. The Stars waived Atunrase on May 25, 2009.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

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Playoffs

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References

External links

Official WNBA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atunrase, Morenike 1986 births Living people American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream draft picks Basketball players from Shreveport, Louisiana Point guards San Antonio Stars players Texas A&M Aggies women's basketball players