Sophia L. Witherspoon (born July 6, 1969) is an American former college and 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 who was a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

for seven seasons 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). Witherspoon 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 ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, and was selected in the second round 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 ...

. She played professionally for the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Confer ...

Portland Fire The Portland Fire were a professional basketball team in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) based in Portland, Oregon that joined the league in 2000 as the counterpart to the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and played their games a ...

and

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 ...

of the WNBA.

Early life

Witherspoon was born in

Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Florida’s Atlantic Coast. It is also known as the Sunrise City. Per the 2020 census, the population w ...

. Her older brother introduced her to basketball when she was 6 years old. She attended Fort Pierce Central High School, where she was a standout high school basketball player for the Fort Pierce Central Cobras.

College career

Witherspoon accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where she played for coach

Carol Ross Carol Ross (born June 11, 1959) is an American college and professional basketball coach. Ross has served as the head women's basketball coach for the University of Florida and the University of Mississippi, and also as the head coach of the Lo ...

Florida Gators women's basketball The Florida Gators women's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gator ...

team from 1988 to 1991. In three seasons as a Gator, she scored 1,381 points, made 445 rebounds, and was a first-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) selection in 1991. She graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in health and human performance in 1991, and was inducted into the

University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame includes over 300 former Florida Gators athletes who represented the University of Florida in one or more intercollegiate sports and were recognized as "Gator Greats" for their athletic excellence ...

as a "Gator Great" in 2005. In her honor, the Florida Office of Student Life awards the Sophia Witherspoon Award for Overall Excellence each semester to two Gator athletes "who exemplify the positive attitude and strong work ethic in the classroom that they display on the playing field."

Florida statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Witherspoon was named to the USA team for the 1993

World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

competition in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. The team had a 6–2 record and won the bronze medal. Witherspoon averaged 1.8 points per game.

Professional career

The New York Liberty selected Witherspoon in the second round (11th pick overall) of the 1997 WNBA Draft. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 67 - 57 victory over the Sparks where she recorded 6 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. She played for the Liberty her first three years in the league, being a starter in every game she played during her first two seasons. Witherspoon's minutes and PPG averages for her rookie year were 31.0 MPG and 14.5 PPG. During her second year she averaged 29.9 MPG and 13.8 PPG. However, her minutes diminished in her third season (down to 18.2 MPG) and so did her productivity (down to 8.5 points). On December 15, 1999, Witherspoon was drafted by the

during the Expansion Draft and played for the Fire. She would play for the Fire for two seasons, averaging 16.8 points, 3.3 rebounds in the 2000 season, and 12 points, 2.4 rebounds in the 2001 season. Along with her teammate

Nikki Teasley Nikki Teasley (born March 22, 1979) is a former American basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Born in Washington, D.C., she played college basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the ...

, Witherspoon was traded to the Sparks for

Ukari Figgs Ukari Okien Figgs (born March 31, 1977) is an American former collegiate and professional women's basketball player. Early life and college Born in Georgetown, Kentucky, Figgs led the Scott County girls' basketball team to a state title in 1995 ...

and Gergana Slavcheva on April 19, 2002. She officially signed with the Sparks on June 11, 2002 and would make the Finals during her first year with the team. The Sparks defeated the Liberty 2-0 and Witherspoon earned her first and only WNBA Championship. The Sparks reached the Finals again in 2003 but would be defeated by 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 three games (2-1). After missing the entire 2003 season, Witherspoon would sign a contract as a free agent with 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 ...

on April 5, 2004 but would be waived by them before as part of the final roster cuts before the season started. Due to her stint with the Sting not coming to fruition, Witherspoon's final WNBA game ever was Game 3 of the 2003 Finals against Detroit on September 16, 2003. The Sparks lost the game 78 - 83 with Witherspoon playing for three and a half minutes and only recording two missed 3-point attempts and no other stats.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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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 ...

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, 28, , 28, , 31.0, , 40.6, , 34.9, , 74.8, , 3.0, , 2.3, , 1.8, , 0.3, , 2.8, , 14.5 , - , 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 ...

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, 30, , 30, , 29.9, , 40.1, , 34.4, , 78.6, , 3.0, , 1.9, , 1.3, , 0.1, , 2.4, , 13.8 , - , 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 ...

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, 32, , 23, , 18.2, , 39.6, , 35.9, , 71.0, , 1.5, , 1.2, , 1.0, , 0.1, , 1.5, , 8.5 , - , align="left" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, 32, , 32, , 33.2, , 38.4, , 36.8, , 87.1, , 3.3, , 2.1, , 1.2, , 0.3, , 2.8, , 16.8 , - , align="left" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

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, 31, , 30, , 27.8, , 31.6, , 31.3, , 84.9, , 2.4, , 1.7, , 1.0, , 0.3, , 2.3, , 12.0 , - , align="left" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

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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, ...

, 31, , 1, , 11.5, , 41.5, , 41.8, , 76.1, , 0.9, , 0.9, , 0.4, , 0.1, , 0.7, , 5.2 , - , align="left" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

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, 23, , 2, , 10.2, , 32.1, , 34.5, , 85.7, , 0.8, , 0.2, , 0.3, , 0.0, , 0.3, , 2.4 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 7 years, 3 teams , 207, , 146, , 23.5, , 38.0, , 35.1, , 80.2, , 2.2, , 1.5, , 1.0, , 0.1, , 1.9, , 10.7

Playoffs

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, 6, , 0, , 14.3, , 44.7, , 40.0, , 63.6, , 2.2, , 0.3, , 0.7, , 0.0, , 1.3, , 7.5 , - , align="left" ,

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, 6, , 0, , 6.5, , 35.7, , 36.4, , 100.0, , 0.8, , 0.3, , 0.2, , 0.0, , 0.2, , 3.0 , - , align="left" ,

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, 5, , 0, , 2.8, , 20.0, , 0.0, , 75.0, , 0.4, , 0.0, , 0.2, , 0.0, , 0.4, , 1.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 4 years, 2 teams , 19, , 2, , 10.7, , 37.3, , 34.5, , 73.7, , 1.6, , 0.5, , 0.5, , 0.1, , 0.8, , 4.2

References

External links

Sophia Witherspoon
– Official WNBA player profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Witherspoon, Sophia 1969 births Living people American women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Hungary American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Turkey Basketball players from Florida Florida Gators women's basketball players Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players Los Angeles Sparks players New York Liberty draft picks New York Liberty players Portland Fire players FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the United States Summer World University Games medalists in basketball Guards (basketball) Medalists at the 1993 Summer Universiade Seattle Storm draft picks 20th-century American sportswomen

Early life

College career

Florida statistics

USA Basketball

Professional career

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

See also

References

External links