Tonya LaRay Edwards (born March 13, 1968) is an American retired 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 born in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

, who was most recently an assistant coach of the

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

in the WNBA. She was previously head coach of the Alcorn State Lady Braves basketball team.

Professional career

After graduating from college, there were no opportunities to play professional basketball in the U.S., so Edwards played professionally in Italy from 1991 to 1992, Turkey in 1994, and Israel from 1995 to 1996. In the Autumn of 1996, she played for the Columbus Quest in the American Basketball League (ABL), and won two championship titles with them. In 1998, Edwards became the interim head coach for the Quest after coach Brian Agler resigned. After the ABL folded due to financial difficulties, Edwards was selected by the

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 ...

in the 1999 WNBA draft. She also played for 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 ...

and

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 ...

. Edwards began her coaching career by returning to her

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, Northwestern Community High School in

, for five seasons (1990–1995). She guided her team to the 1993 state championship with perfect 28–0 record, a 1992 state champion runner-up finish, and compiled a 78-23 overall record (.772). She was named 1993 "High School Coach of the Year" in the state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. In 2004, she became a radio commentator for the Phoenix Mercury games, and later became an assistant coach in the

National Women's Basketball League The National Women's Basketball League, often abbreviated to the NWBL, was an organization governing professional basketball leagues for women in the United States. The league was founded in 1997 and began play in the Fall of that year. The leagu ...

. In 2006, she was inducted to the Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame. That same year, she was named as an assistant coach to the women's basketball team at

University of Detroit Mercy The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Cath ...

. After two years at Detroit, Edwards was head coach at

Alcorn State Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. T ...

from 2008 to 2015. Edwards was SWAC Coach of the Year in 2011 and led Alcorn State to the SWAC Championship Game in 2012. In seven seasons, Edwards went 60–147 at Alcorn State. On March 23, 2015, Alcorn State announced it would not extend Edwards' contract, which expired at the end of the month.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

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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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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 ...

, 32 , , 32 , , 32.2 , , .357 , , .344 , , .806 , , 3.5 , , 2.6 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 2.1 , , 14.8 , - , 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 ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 32 , , 32 , , 28.9 , , .376 , , .307 , , .782 , , 2.4 , , 1.8 , , 1.1 , , 0.3 , , 2.0 , , 10.6 , - , 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 ...

, align="left" , Phoenix , 10 , , 9 , , 20.8 , , .366 , , .357 , , .787 , , 1.9 , , 1.8 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 2.2 , , 9.4 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Charlotte , 22 , , 0 , , 16.9 , , .340 , , .227 , , .730 , , 2.0 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 1.8 , , 4.5 , - , 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 ...

, align="left" , Charlotte , 29 , , 0 , , 10.4 , , .364 , , .280 , , .717 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 0.6 , , 3.9 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 4 years, 3 teams , 125 , , 73 , , 22.7 , , .362 , , .322 , , .775 , , 2.3 , , 1.7 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 1.7 , , 9.0

Playoffs

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, align="left" , Phoenix , 2 , , 2 , , 30.5 , , .250 , , .231 , , .667 , , 3.0 , , 2.5 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 8.5 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Charlotte , 8 , , 0 , , 14.9 , , .429 , , .500 , , 1.000 , , 2.0 , , 1.5 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 1.4 , , 2.8 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Charlotte , 2 , , 0 , , 9.5 , , .200 , , .333 , , .000 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , , 1.5 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 3 years, 2 teams , 12 , , 2 , , 16.6 , , .326 , , .300 , , .600 , , 1.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , , 0.0 , , 1.2 , , 3.5

College

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 1987–88 , style="text-align:left;" ,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, 34, , -, , -, , 45.8, , 50.0, , 75.2, , 4.9, , 3.3, , 2.3, , 0.3, , -, , 12.9 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1988–89 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 20, , -, , -, , 45.0, , 11.1, , 79.7, , 3.0, , 3.4, , 2.3, , 0.2, , -, , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1989–90 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 33, , -, , -, , 41.9, , 36.8, , 76.1, , 3.2, , 3.4, , 1.7, , 0.1, , -, , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 87, , -, , -, , 44.2, , 36.1, , 76.4, , 3.8, , 3.3, , 2.1, , 0.2, , -, , 11.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="14", Statistics retrieved from

Sports-Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Ref ...

USA Basketball

Edwards was named to the team representing the US at the 1987

William Jones Cup The William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament (), also known as the William Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in sports, 1977 ...

competition in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

, Taiwan. The team won all seven games to win the gold medal for the event. The USA was down at halftime in the opening game against Japan, but came back in the second half to win, helped by 15 points from Campbell. Edwards was the second leading scorer on the team, averaging 12.4 points per game over the seven games. She was one of three players from the USA team to be named to the Jones Cup All-Tournament Team. In the following year, 1988, Edwards was also named to the Jones Cup team. The USA team was not as successful, with a 3–2 record, but that was enough to secure the silver medal. Edwards was the leading scorer on the team, averaging 15.4 points per game, and tied for the team lead in steals with 15.

Head coaching record

Edwards' score are as following:

References

Sources

WNBA Player ProfileSeptember 11, 2006 press release on Edwards joining the University of Detroit Mercy coaching staff
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Tonya 1968 births Living people Basketball players from Flint, Michigan American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey Alcorn State Lady Braves basketball coaches Charlotte Sting players Chicago Sky coaches Columbus Quest players Detroit Mercy Titans women's basketball coaches Fenerbahçe women's basketball players Los Angeles Sparks coaches Minnesota Lynx draft picks Minnesota Lynx players Phoenix Mercury players Shooting guards Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball players WNBA All-Stars 20th-century American sportswomen National Women's Basketball League players