Rhonda Blades

Rhonda Blades Brown (born October 29, 1972) is a former professional basketball player. She was the first pick in the 1998 WNBA expansion draft.[2] Blades was a 4-year starting point guard and captain at Vanderbilt University. She was a first round draft pick for the New York Liberty,[3] starting her six-year career in the WNBA and abroad.

Rhonda Blades Brown
Personal information
Born (1972-10-29) October 29, 1972
Springfield, Missouri
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Listed weight137 lb (62 kg)
Career information
High schoolParkview (Springfield, Missouri)
CollegeVanderbilt (1991–1995)
WNBA draft1998: Expansion round, 1st overall pick
Selected by the Detroit Shock
Playing career1997–1998
PositionGuard
Number10
Career history
1997New York Liberty
1998Detroit Shock
Career WNBA[1] statistics
Points146 (2.6 ppg)
Assists71 (1.2 apg)
Steals26 (0.5 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

College

Rhonda Blades played basketball for Vanderbilt. During her four seasons (1992–95), she totaled 1,017 points and was named Honorable Mention All-American during her senior year. Blades completed a master's degree in Nursing (MSN) and RN from VUSN in 1996.[4]

Vanderbilt statistics

Source[5][6][7][8]

Ratios
YEAR Team GP FG% 3P% FT% RBG APG BPG SPG PPG
1991-92 Vanderbilt 31 48.0% 35.3% 81.6% 1.55 1.48 0.06 0.94 3.03
1992-93 Vanderbilt 33 42.3% 32.3% 76.6% 3.12 4.73 0.03 1.94 7.52
1993-94 Vanderbilt 33 44.7% 40.1% 80.4% 3.97 4.73 0.06 1.88 11.73
1994-95 Vanderbilt 35 40.0% 35.1% 61.7% 3.60 4.20 0.00 1.80 8.23
Career 132 42.9% 36.3% 75.9% 3.09 3.83 0.04 1.65 7.70
Totals
YEAR Team GP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA REB A BK ST PTS
1991-92 Vanderbilt 31 24 50 6 17 40 49 48 46 2 29 94
1992-93 Vanderbilt 33 66 156 31 96 85 111 103 156 1 64 248
1993-94 Vanderbilt 33 115 257 67 167 90 112 131 156 2 62 387
1994-95 Vanderbilt 35 92 230 67 191 37 60 126 147 0 63 288
Career 132 297 693 171 471 252 332 408 505 5 218 1017

WNBA

Rhonda Blades played for the New York Liberty, Detroit Shock, and Washington Mystics. Drafted in the early days of the league, Brown became the first WNBA player to score a 3-point shot.[9] Brown continued playing professionally in Israel and Turkey, winning the Israeli cup in 2000–2001.

WNBA per game stats
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
1997 New York 28010.4.357.315.6500.81.10.50.01.42.9
1998 Detroit 29211.7.256.240.4831.11.40.40.01.42.3
Career 2 years, 2 teams 57211.1.304.279.5510.91.20.50.01.42.6

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 New York 1013.0———0.02.00.00.02.00.0

[10]

Life after Professional Basketball

After basketball, Blades became the head varsity girls' basketball coach at Brentwood Academy, in Brentwood, Tennessee.[11] She has coached a winning program for 17 seasons (361-162 record), including 5 state championships and 4 more state championship appearances. She also teaches Anatomy and Health at Brentwood Academy, for which additional sessions were added to meet demand. Brown is married to Parke Brown (22 years), with two children, Blades (son, age 10) and Millie (daughter, age 14).

References
  1. "SHOCK: Rhonda Blades". www.wnba.com.
  2. "Lodi News-Sentinel - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  3. "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  4. "Rhonda Blades Brown | VUMC Through Time". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  5. "FINAL 1992 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  6. "FINAL 1993 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  7. "FINAL 1994 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  8. "FINAL 1995 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  9. "VU winning tradition began with sacrifice". Vandy247. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  10. "Rhonda Blades WNBA Stats". Basketball-Reference.com.
  11. "Vanderbilt Commodores | Official Athletic Site". Vanderbilt University Athletics - Official Athletics Website.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.