Sparkle Taylor

Sparkle Taylor (born July 28, 1995) is an American professional basketball player whois a free agent in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball at UTEP. Taylor went undrafted during the 2017 WNBA draft. She appeared in the league in 2022 with the Chicago Sky.

Sparkle Taylor
No. 12 – Free Agent
PositionGuard
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1995-07-28) July 28, 1995
Flint, Michigan
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Career information
High schoolNorthwestern High School
(Flint, Michigan)
College
WNBA draft2017: undrafted
Playing career2017–present
Career history
2017-2018Forex Time Apollon Limassol
2020-2021SPAR Gran Canaria
2022-PresentChicago Sky
Career highlights and awards
  • All-C-USA Second Team (2017)
  • Conference USA Sixth Player of the Year (2016)

College career

During Taylor's freshman season at UTEP, she was known as someone who wasn't afraid of contact and went to the free throw line often. She got to the line 77 times during that season.[1] In her sophomore season, Taylor was inserted into the starting line up and was second on the team in scoring at 10.3 points. She was moved back to the bench during her junior season and averaged 9.8 points, but was award the C-USA Sixth Woman of the Year award in 2016.[2] Her senior year, Taylor's offense exploded when she went over 18.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists. On a team full of freshman, Taylor was called upon to do a lot for the Miners.[3] Taylor scored 34 point in back to back games against North Texas and Rice to become the first player in program history to score 30+ points in back-to-backs. She won the Player of the Week on February 20, 2017, for those efforts.[4]

College statistics

[5]

Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2013–14 UTEP
2014–15 UTEP 28 287 .436 .321 .684 4.4 0.6 0.6 0.4 10.3
2015–16 UTEP 31 304 .472 .200 .685 3.0 0.5 0.5 0.1 9.8
2016–17 UTEP 31 304 .468 .176 .781 6.4 1.7 1.3 0.2 18.4
Career 90 1162 .427 .341 .733 4.6 1.0 0.8 0.2 12.9

Professional career

Overseas

Following her UTEP career, Taylor signed with Forex Time Apollon Limassol basketball club of Cyprus' Divions A league in 2017.[6]

In the 2021–2022 season, Taylor played for Satu Mare in the Romania-Liga Nationala. In January 2022, Taylor was averaging 23.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.6 steals.[7]

Chicago Sky

Taylor signed a training camp contract with the Chicago Sky in 2021, but did not make the team and was waived from training camp on May 10, 2021.[8]

Taylor returned the Sky's training camp in 2022 and was once again waived on May 4, 2022.[9][10] Taylor was brought back right before the season opener on a Hardship Contract player due to Chicago's roster having multiple players missing. Taylor made her WNBA debut on May 6, 2022, against the Los Angeles Sparks.[11][12] On May 13, 2022, Taylor was released from her hardship contract after appearing in 2 games with the Sky

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
2022 Chicago 2012.5.833.0001.0001.00.00.00.00.55.5
Career 1 year, 1 team 2012.5.833.0001.0001.00.00.00.00.55.5

References
  1. "Sparkle Taylor". utepminers.com. UTEP Athletics. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  2. Nicolas, Alex. "UTEP Women's Basketball: Jenzel Nash, Sparkle Taylor named to Preseason All C-USA Team". minerrush.com. SB Nation. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  3. Bloomquist, Brent. "Taylor makes mark as one of UTEPs greats". elpasotimes.com. El Paso Times.
  4. "UTEP's Taylor Tabbed C-USA Player of the Week". elpasoheraldpost.com. El Paso Herald Post. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  5. "Career Statistics". utepminers.com. UTEP Athletics. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  6. "Former UTEP star, Flint native Sparkle Taylor to start pro career in Cyprus". mlive.com. Flint Sports. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  7. "The University of Texas at El Paso alumni playing currently pro basketball". usbasket.com. US Basket. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  8. "Chicago Sky Waive Jessica January, Sparkle Taylor and Sierra Campisano". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  9. Costabile, Annie. "Here's a look at your 2022 Chicago Sky". chicago.suntimes.com. Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  10. "Chicago Sky Waive Anneli Maley, Kaela Davis, Tina Krajišnik, Sparkle Taylor and Kysre Gondrezick". oursportscentral.com. Our Sports Central. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  11. Costabile, Annie. "Allie Quigley ruled out for Sky season opener". chicago.suntimes.com. Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  12. "Final Score: LAS 98, CHI 91". sky.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
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