Moriah Jefferson

Moriah Jefferson (born March 8, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted second overall by the San Antonio Stars in the 2016 WNBA draft. Jefferson played point guard for UConn women's basketball team, where she won four consecutive national championships. She finished her UConn career ranked first in assists, second in steals, and as a two-time winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award as the top point guard in the nation. On May 16, 2019, Jefferson was traded to the Dallas Wings.

Moriah Jefferson
Jefferson with the Phoenix Mercury in 2023
No. 8 – Phoenix Mercury
PositionPoint guard
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1994-03-08) March 8, 1994
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Listed weight130 lb (59 kg)
Career information
High schoolTexas Home Educators' Sports Association
CollegeUConn (2012–2016)
WNBA draft2016: 1st round, 2nd overall pick
Selected by the San Antonio Stars
Playing career2016–present
Career history
2016–2018San Antonio Stars / Las Vegas Aces
2016–2017,
2018–2019		Galatasaray
2019–2022Dallas Wings
2022Minnesota Lynx
2023–presentPhoenix Mercury
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Medals
Women’s Basketball
Representing  United States
U18 and U19
Gold medal – first place 2012 U18 Gurabo Team competition
Gold medal – first place 2013 U19 Klaipėda and Panevėžys Team competition
Pan American Games
Silver medal – second place 2015 Toronto Team competition

Early life

Jefferson is the daughter of Robin and Lorenza Jefferson. She has two brothers, Joshua and Jeremiah, and one sister, Danielle Noble.[1]

High School career

Jefferson played five varsity seasons with the Texas Home Educators Sports Association (THESA) Riders as a homeschooled athlete. Jefferson began playing with THESA's varsity squad as an eighth grader and compiled 509 points, 85 rebounds, and 87 assists. In her freshman year, she started in 50 of 51 games played and averaged 19.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists. and 2.8 steals per game to help THESA to a 42–10 record. As a sophomore, Jefferson averaged 17.5 points to help her team to a 42–9 record. During her junior year, she started all 50 games and averaged 21.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 4.0 steals per game in aiding her team to a 42–8 record. As a senior, she averaged 17.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 5.1 steals per game to lead her team to a 41–6 record. Jefferson helped lead the Riders to five National Christian Homeschool Basketball Championships (NCHBC) titles and five NCHBC Texas Region titles and finished her career with 3,354 points, 825 rebounds, and 728 steals.[1]

Jefferson was selected to the 2012 WBCA High School Coaches' All-America Team. She participated in the 2012 WBCA High School All-America Game, scoring four points.[2][3]

Jefferson was recruited by many schools; she visited Baylor, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M, and was also considering Kentucky and Tennessee before cutting her list down to Baylor, Connecticut and Texas A&M. She ended up choosing Connecticut.[4][5] She is the first recruit from the state of Texas to play for UConn.[6]

USA Basketball

Jefferson was named to the USA Basketball U18 team, coached by Katie Meier, the head coach of the University of Miami. Among Jefferson's teammates were Connecticut-bound players Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck. The team played in the Ninth Women's FIBA Americas U18 Championship For Women, held in Gurabo, Puerto Rico during August 2012. The USA team won all five games to win the championship and the gold medal. After winning the first four easily, with winning margins of 40 points or more, USA fell behind by double digits in the gold medal game against Brazil. The team came back from the deficit, and went on to win the game 71–47. Jefferson averaged 5.6 points per game, and, although the shortest player on the team at 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m), she tied for third in blocks with five over the course of the event.[7]

Jefferson continued with the team as it became the U19 team, and competed on behalf of the US at the FIBA U19 World Championship, held in Klaipėda and Panevėžys, Lithuania, in July 2013. The team won all nine games, with an average winning margin of 43 points per game. Jefferson scored 4.0 points per game, and was third on her team with 31 assists over the course of the event.[8]

Jefferson was a member of the USA Women's Pan American Team which participated in basketball at the 2015 Pan American Games held in Toronto from July 10–26, 2015.

College

University of Connecticut
Jefferson (right) receiving the Nancy Lieberman Award in 2015

Jefferson led UConn to a 151–5 record over her four-year career, which included four consecutive National Championships. She finished her career in 22nd place on the UConn scoring list with 1,532, all-time leader in assists with 659, and second in steals with 353. Her 195 assists in 2013–14 is the fifth-highest single-season mark in school history, while her 191 assists in 2014–15 is the sixth-best single-season total. She became the second player in UConn history to dish out 200 assists. She became only the second Husky all-time to record back-to-back years with at least 100 steals. Jefferson's 191 assists during the 2014–15 season were the most by a UConn junior, while her 204 assists in 2015–16 is the best single-season total. Jefferson was named the 2014–2015 American Athletic Conference and WBCA NCAA Division I Defensive Player of the Year, and Consensus first team All-American for the second straight season.[9] Jefferson is the third UConn player to earn the Nancy Lieberman Award (nation's top point guard) and one of only four players in the award's history to claim the honor twice.

College statistics

The following statistics represent Jefferson's collegiate career at the University of Connecticut.[10][11]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2012–13 Connecticut 39 182 42.4 26.6 76.0 1.6 1.8 1.3 0.1 4.7
2013–14 Connecticut 40 400 57.5 41.8 76.8 3.4 4.9 2.7 0.2 10.0
2014–15 Connecticut 39 485 58.7 49.6 84.3 2.9 4.9 2.6 0.1 12.4
2015–16 Connecticut 37 465 55.7 43.1 89.4 2.5 5.5 2.6 0.2 12.6
Career Connecticut 155 1532 55.0 42.0 81.8 2.6 4.3 2.3 0.2 9.9

Professional career

WNBA

After being drafted second overall by the San Antonio Stars in the 2016 WNBA draft, Jefferson immediately became a starter on the team. During her rookie season, Jefferson scored a game-winning putback to beat the buzzer as part of her career-high 31 points to help San Antonio defeat the Indiana Fever 87–85 in overtime on July 1, 2016.[12] She was named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team by the end of the season. She missed 13 games during the 2017 season due to a knee injury. On September 27, 2017, she had a surgery to fix the cartilage in her right knee. After rehabilitating for nine months, and missing the first 17 games of the 2018 season, she returned to practice on June 21, 2018. She was traded to the Dallas Wings before the 2019 season but chose to sit the season out to rehab. She made her debut for the Wings during the 2020 season but, she suffered another season ending injury to her right knee.[13]

On May 9 2022, Jefferson was waived by the Wings.[14] Four days later, on May 13, Jefferson joined the Minnesota Lynx.[15]

Turkey

In August 2016, Jefferson signed with Galatasaray of the Turkish Women's Basketball League (KBSL) for the 2016–17 season.[16] For the season, she averaged 18.5 points and 4.9 assists,[17] and helped it reach the KBSL semi-finals. She returned to Galatasaray for the 2018–19 season where she averaged 13.4 points and once again helped the team to the semi-finals.[18]

Endorsements

In September 2016, Jefferson was featured in the Adidas "Sport Needs Creators" ad[19] alongside athletes including Von Miller of the Denver Broncos, Paul Pogba of Manchester United, and James Harden of the Houston Rockets.

WNBA career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2016 San Antonio 343430.4.426.375.7752.14.21.60.11.713.9
2017 San Antonio 21924.5.523.450.7411.84.41.50.12.09.1
2018 Las Vegas 16015.7.379.200.8101.32.10.60.01.05.4
2020 Dallas 9616.4.409.333.5833.12.00.80.21.75.0
2021 Dallas 292817.2.449.460.6002.02.50.80.21.45.4
2022 Dallas 104.0.000.000.0000.00.00.00.00.00.0
2022 Minnesota 303026.8.452.474.8152.54.91.20.12.210.8
Career 6 years, 3 teams 14010723.3.444.416.7722.13.61.20.11.79.1

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2021 Dallas 1125.0.571.333.0002.04.02.00.04.09.0
Career 1 year, 1 team 1125.0.571.333.0002.04.02.00.04.09.0

Awards and honors

References
  1. "Moriah Jefferson". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on August 8, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  2. "Past WBCA HS Coaches' All-America Teams". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  3. "WBCA High School All-America Game Box Scores". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  4. Hansen, Chris (April 14, 2011). "Moriah Jefferson unfazed by rumors". ESPN. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  5. Halley, Jim (July 29, 2011). "DFW T-Jack Elite guard Moriah Jefferson is at home on court". USA Today. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  6. Fuller, Jim (February 18, 2013). "UCONN WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Moriah Jefferson chose Huskies over hometown Lady Bears". New Haven Register. Journal Register CT. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  7. "Ninth Women's Fiba Americas U18 Championship For Women – 2012". USA Basketball. September 27, 2012. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  8. "Tenth FIBA U19 World Championship — 2013". USA Basketball. October 15, 2013. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  9. Jacobs, Jeff (April 6, 2016). "Senior Sweep: Savor The Huskies' Big Moment". The Hartford Courant. Hartford, CT. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  10. "NCAA Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  11. "4 Moriah Jefferson". Archived from the original on March 24, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  12. "Moriah Jefferson Scores Career High 31 Points! – filling the lane". Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  13. Sam Gordon (July 31, 2018). "Lengthy recovery pays off for Aces guard Moriah Jefferson". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  14. "Dallas Wings Waive Moriah Jefferson". Dallas Wings. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  15. "Lynx Sign Moriah Jefferson and Evina Westbrook". Minnesota Lynx. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  16. "2016–2017 WNBA Overseas Signings". Women's Basketball 24.7. August 22, 2016. Archived from the original on September 30, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  17. "Galatasaray (K) Basketbol Takımı 2016/2017 İstatistik". mackolik.com (in Turkish). Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  18. "Galatasaray (K) Basketbol Takımı 2018/2019 İstatistik". mackolik.com (in Turkish). Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  19. adidas (September 6, 2016), Sport Needs Creators – adidas, retrieved October 9, 2016
  20. "Five Women's Hoops Players Garner AP All-American Recognition". UConnHuskies.com. April 1, 2014. Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  21. "Jefferson Wins 2016 Nancy Lieberman Award". www.uconnhuskies.com. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  22. "Jefferson Wins Dawn Staley Award". www.uconnhuskies.com. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
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