Shoni Schimmel (born May 4, 1992) is an American former 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 ...
player. She is a former
All-American
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 ...
college player at the
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...
and was selected with the eighth overall pick in the first round of the
2014 draft by the
Atlanta Dream.
Early life and high school
Schimmel, a 5'9"
shooting guard
The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...
, first received attention as a high school player in Oregon. Raised on the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in
Mission, Oregon, she was the subject of a documentary by filmmaker Jonathan Hock called ''Off the Rez'', which chronicled her journey to earn an NCAA scholarship with her basketball ability. She transferred from
Hermiston High School in eastern Oregon to the larger
Franklin High School in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, to increase her chances of being recruited to a
Division I school. After her senior year at Franklin, Schimmel was named a first team All-American by ''
Parade'' magazine.
Schimmel was selected to the 2010
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 ...
High School Coaches' All-America Team. The top twenty high school players in the country are named as WBCA All-Americans, and eligible to play in the all-star game. She participated in the 2010 WBCA High School All-America Game, scoring six points.
College career
Schimmel chose
Louisville for college and became a four-year starter for the Cardinals. As a junior in
2012–13, Schimmel led the team to the championship game of the
2013 Tournament. In her senior season, Schimmel averaged 17.1 points per game to lead the team in scoring and was named an All-American by the
USBWA and
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
.
For her career, she finished second on the Louisville career scoring list, finishing with 2,174 points.
College statistics
Source
USA Basketball
Schimmel was selected to be a member of the team representing the US at the 2013 World University Games held in
Kazan, Russia. The team, coached by
Sherri Coale, won the opening four games easily, scoring in triple digits in each game, and winning by 30 or more points in each case. After winning the quarterfinal game against Sweden, they faced Australia in the semifinal. The USA team opened up as much as a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter of the game but the Australian team fought back and took a one-point lead in the final minute. Crystal Bradford scored a basket with 14 seconds left in the game to secure a 79–78 victory. The gold medal opponent was Russia, but the USA team never trailed, and won 90–71 to win the gold medal and the World University games Championship. Schimmel averaged 4.6 points per game.
Professional career
On April 14, 2014, Schimmel was selected in the first round of the
2014 WNBA draft (eighth pick overall) by the
Atlanta Dream. Despite coming off the bench, Schimmel had an impressive rookie season, averaging 8.3 ppg and was voted a WNBA All-Star starter, become just the third reserve in league history to achieve that.
In her first career game, Schimmel scored 7 points to go with a franchise-record 11 assists against the
San Antonio Stars.
In a regular season game win against the
Phoenix Mercury, Schimmel scored a career-high 24 points, where she scored 20 of them in the second quarter, becoming one of six players in WNBA history to score 20 or more points in a quarter.
She also earned recognition as the
2014 WNBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player on July 19, 2014, in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...
, as Schimmel out battled
Skylar Diggins by scoring a then WNBA All-Star Game record, 29 points (which would be broken by
Maya Moore the following year).
[ In 2014, her ]jersey
Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
was the league's best seller. Some of the other WNBA franchises have held events honoring Native Americans when the Dream is the visiting team. With Schimmel's productivity on the court along with a supporting cast of Sancho Lyttle, all-star center Érika de Souza and superstar small forward Angel McCoughtry, the Atlanta Dream were the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, but were upset in the first round of the playoffs, losing 2–1 to the fourth-seeded Chicago Sky.
In the 2015 season, Schimmel averaged 7.6 ppg despite starting in more games than she did in her rookie season. However, she was voted once again as a WNBA all-star starter, but the Dream never made it to the playoffs. Schimmel led the team in assists throughout the whole season.
Right before the 2016 season, Schimmel was traded to the New York Liberty in exchange for a 2017 second round draft pick. Despite being a two-time all-star, Schimmel would have a significantly reduced role on the team while averaging career lows in minutes per game (4.5 mpg) and points per game (2.1 ppg). She was also out of shape coming into training camp which ultimately led to the amount of playing time she would get. Midway through the season, Schimmel suffered a concussion that would cause her to miss the rest of the season, including the playoffs.
In May 2017, it was announced that Schimmel would be sitting out the 2017 WNBA season due to personal issues.
In April 2018, Schimmel made her return to the Liberty in training camp but would be waived a month later before the start of the 2018 WNBA season.
On May 15, 2018, Schimmel signed with the Las Vegas Aces. On May 23, 2018, Schimmel was waived by the Aces.
Personal life
Schimmel has a younger sister, Jude, who was also a teammate of hers at Louisville. Her youngest sister, Milan, played basketball for the University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
. She has five brothers: Shae, Mick, Saint, Job and Sun. Her parents are Ceci and Rick Schimmel. On June 15, 2021, she was arrested for felony assault and criminal mischief.
And she has recently married a woman.
WNBA career statistics
Regular season
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, style="text-align:left;", Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, 34 , , 2 , , 21.0, , .374 , , .342 , , .840 , , 2.7, , 5.7 , , 0.7, , 0.0 , , 2.4 , , 8.3
, -
, style="text-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 ...
, style="text-align:left;", Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, 32 , , 16 , , 19.8 , , .378 , , .383 , , .857 , , 2.5 , , 3.2 , , 0.7, , 0.1 , , 2.3 , , 7.6
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2016
, style="text-align:left;", New York
, 17 , , 0 , , 4.5 , , .550 , , .563 , , .800 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 0.1, , 0.0 , , 0.4 , , 2.1
, -
, style="text-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 ...
, style="text-align:left;", Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
, 2 , , 0 , , 6.4 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.0, , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.0
, -
, style="text-align:left;", Career
, style="text-align:left;", 4 years, 3 teams
, 85 , , 18 , , 17.0, , .379 , , .366 , , .845 , , 1.9 , , 2.8 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 2.0 , , 6.6
Postseason
, -
, style="text-align:left;", 2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, style="text-align:left;", Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, 3 , , 3 , , 19.7 , , .368 , , .375 , , .840 , , 5.7 , , 3.6 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.3 , , 6.3
, -
, style="text-align:left;", Career
, style="text-align:left;", 1 year, 1 team
, 3 , , 3 , , 19.7 , , .368 , , .375 , , .840 , , 5.7 , , 3.6 , , 1.0 , , 0.0, , 2.3 , , 6.3
See also
* Ryneldi Becenti
* Angel Goodrich
* Tahnee Robinson
References
External links
Louisville bio
WNBA draft video
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schimmel, Shoni
1992 births
Living people
21st-century Native American women
All-American college women's basketball players
American women's basketball players
Atlanta Dream draft picks
Atlanta Dream players
Basketball players from Oregon
FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States
Franklin High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni
Las Vegas Aces players
Louisville Cardinals women's basketball players
Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade
Native American basketball players
Native American people from Oregon
New York Liberty players
Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball)
People from Hermiston, Oregon
Point guards
Summer World University Games medalists in basketball
WNBA All-Stars
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
21st-century American sportswomen