Courtney Vandersloot
Encyclopedia
Courtney Vandersloot is an American basketball player, currently a point guard
with the Chicago Sky
in the WNBA
and Beşiktaş in the Turkish Women's Basketball League
(TKBL). The third selection in the 2011 WNBA Draft
, she had a successful first season in which she was selected for the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game
and named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team
.
During her college career at Gonzaga University
, she was the only women's player in West Coast Conference
history to be named the conference's player of the year three times, and also the only player to be named MVP of the WCC Women's Tournament
three times. In her final season at Gonzaga, she won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award
as the top NCAA Division I women's player no taller than 5'8" (1.73 m) and Nancy Lieberman Award
as the top player at her position in Division I women's basketball. Vandersloot is also the first Division I player, male or female, to have accumulated 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in a career, and only the second female overall (current Old Dominion head coach Karen Barefoot accomplished the feat at Division III Christopher Newport University
).
, Vandersloot grew up in a neighborhood with many children her age, and said in a 2011 interview that "all we did was play sports, all sports." Her father built a sports court with a basketball goal behind the family house, but she almost never played there, choosing instead to play at a hoop in front of a neighbor's house where she could easily be seen by other children in the neighborhood. Most important to her future development as a player, she regularly played against boys. During the third grade, she wrote a school paper about her dreams of one day playing in the WNBA
.
While Vandersloot regularly played basketball and many other sports as a child—she was also on a fast-pitch
softball team that was runner-up in a Washington state tournament at age 11— her favorite sport was soccer; she had a poster of Mia Hamm
on her bedroom wall. She did not concentrate on basketball until high school:
in her hometown. Her coach, Keith Hennig, a former player at Central Washington University
who is 6 inches taller than Vandersloot, regularly played one-on-one against her either before or after the team's practice. He would later say, "I did not take it easy on her at all. I was more physical than anything she's ever been used to. At times, I wasn't too nice. I would ride her and foul her. I'd put my hand in her face and she would whine and complain about fouls. I'd say, 'There's no fouls out here.' " She eventually reached the point where she regularly beat her coach off the dribble.
A pivotal moment in her life came during the summer before her sophomore year, when she went with a friend to the Gonzaga University
girls' basketball camp. She would say about the trip in 2011, "I just fell in love with this place. I felt so comfortable here." The Gonzaga women's basketball staff was equally enthusiastic about her, except for head coach Kelly Graves
, who had little opportunity to see her during the camp. Graves would finally get to see Vandersloot at length in her junior year, on the day before the 2006 Washington Class 4A state tournament. He offered her a scholarship
after seeing her practice, even though he did not stay for the tournament.
That season, she had averaged more than 18 points and 7 assists as she led Kentwood to its first state tournament appearance; they would lose in the second round of the tournament to Spokane's University High, led by future Tennessee
star Angie Bjorklund
. After that season, Vandersloot was asked by many people if she would consider Washington
or another Pac-10 school, but decided against it after a Pac-10 assistant told Hennig she was too small. She would eventually sign
with Gonzaga in November 2006, during her senior year at Kentwood; she noted in 2011, "I wasn't really being highly recruited and I just didn't want to go through the stressful recruiting process, so I committed early to Gonzaga."
Vandersloot took her game to another level as a senior, averaging 26 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals while leading Kentwood to a third-place finish in the state tournament; their only loss was in the state semifinals. She scored 113 points in the tournament, one shy of the state record for a girls' tournament, and was named MVP. Vandersloot was also consensus first-team all-state, and was named the state's player of the year by the Seattle Times. Vandersloot was rated as the No. 64 national prospect, and No. 35 among guards, by Scout.com.
. Vandersloot would recall that it "took me a couple of weeks to build up," and when she finally called Stockton for the first time, she hoped that she would reach his voice mail so she wouldn't have to talk. Vandersloot eventually worked with Stockton throughout her Gonzaga career.
As a freshman in 2007–08, she was the West Coast Conference
newcomer of the year and named to the 10-member All-WCC first team after averaging 10.3 points, 5.7 assists, and 1.9 steals per game entering the WCC tournament
, finishing in the top five in the WCC in the latter two categories while the Zags went 13–1 in conference play and earned the tournament's top seed. However, the Bulldogs lost in the WCC final to San Diego and ultimately missed out on the NCAA Tournament, playing instead in the WNIT
. They defeated UC Davis
in the first round before falling to Colorado
in the second round.
In her 2008–09 sophomore season, she set a school record in assists with 239; at the end of the regular season, her average of 7.3 per game led the conference, and she was also third in the conference in scoring at 16.4 per game. Vandersloot won the first of what would be three WCC Player of the Year awards. The Bulldogs went on to win the WCC Tournament
, with Vandersloot named tournament MVP. In the NCAA Tournament
, the Zags defeated Xavier for the program's first NCAA Tournament win before narrowly losing in the second round to Pitt
.
As a junior in 2009–10, Vandersloot led Division I in assists, averaging 9.4 per game, while leading the Zags to an unbeaten record in conference play. During that season, she broke her own school record for assists in a season with 321, and also broke the Gonzaga and WCC records for career assists. Vandersloot was again named both WCC Player of the Year and WCC Tournament MVP while leading the Bulldogs to a second consecutive WCC Tournament title. In the NCAA Tournament
, Vandersloot led the Zags one round farther than in 2009, upsetting No. 2 seed (and 2011 champion
) Texas A&M
before losing in the Sweet Sixteen to the Xavier team they had knocked out the year before.
Her senior year at Gonzaga, 2010–11, can be summed up as a season of milestones. She led the WCC in both scoring and assists on the way to a second straight unbeaten season in conference play. Vandersloot was named WCC Player of the Year for an unprecedented third time. The Zags again won the WCC Tournament, and Vandersloot was named tournament MVP for the third straight time, also becoming the first women's player in WCC history to win that honor three times.
In the NCAA Tournament
, the Bulldogs were a No. 11 seed, but had the advantage of playing their first-round and potential second-round games at their home court of McCarthey Athletic Center
. They would take full advantage of their home court in the first two rounds. The Zags, seeded No. 11 in their region, opened the tournament with a 92–86 upset of Iowa
, with Vandersloot scoring a career-high 34 points. In their second-round game against No. 3 seed UCLA
, Vandersloot finished with 29 points and 17 assists, one assist shy of the record for a Division I tournament game, as the Zags took down the Bruins 89–75. During that game, she became the first player in Division I history to amass 2,000 career points and 1,000 career assists. The win advanced them to the Sweet Sixteen for the second straight year, and to a regional tournament that would be held less than two miles (3 km) from the Gonzaga campus at Spokane Arena
.
During the Bulldogs' next game, a 76–69 win over Louisville
, Vandersloot broke the Division I women's record for assists in a season previously held by Suzie McConnell. She finished with 29 points, 7 assists, and 7 steals as the Zags became the lowest-seeded team ever to reach a regional final in the women's tournament. Their tournament run, and Vandersloot's college career, would end one game later as Stanford
would defeat the Zags 83–60. While she finished with 26 points, only four came in the second half. In addition to her other milestones during the season, she also broke the Gonzaga single-season scoring record.
Vandersloot became one of the most decorated players of the 2010–11 season. She won the women's Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award
as the top Division I player no taller than 5'8" (1.73 m), and the Nancy Lieberman Award
as the top point guard in Division I women's basketball. She was also named to multiple All-America teams. The AP named her a second-team All-America; she became the first women's player in WCC history to be named to that specific team. She also was named to the five-woman Wooden All-America
Team, another honor never before achieved by a WCC player. Finally, she was named to the 10-player USBWA
All-America team, becoming the first Gonzaga player so honored, and the 10-member State Farm
Coaches
All-America team, another first for a WCC player.
Her impact on the Gonzaga program can be measured by another statistic—home attendance. The year before she arrived in Spokane
, the Bulldogs averaged 1,492 with a team that would make its first NCAA Tournament appearance. By her junior year, attendance had risen to 2,935, and rose again to 3,824 in her senior season, with the Zags selling out the McCarthey Athletic Center twice before the NCAA tournament.
. Her relatively small size had been a subject of concern, as was her defense—despite averaging 4.5 steals per game in the 2011 NCAA tournament and ending her Gonzaga career with 366. However, she was seen as likely to be one of the top seven picks, and was ultimately picked third overall by the Chicago Sky. One indicator of her likely draft position was that Indiana Fever
coach Lin Dunn
, whose team needed depth at point guard going into the 2011 season
, signed Shannon Bobbitt
in February, convinced that Vandersloot would be picked before the Fever's turn at #9.
John Stockton
has given Vandersloot high praise, stating, "I don’t want to dramatize it too much but she’s like Gretzky
in hockey. There is something that separates Courtney from others. (Adam) Morrison
(a recent Gonzaga men's
standout) was a little bit the same way."
In her rookie season
, she became the Sky's regular starter at the point, ultimately starting 26 of the team's 34 games. Her average of 3.7 assists per game was 11th in the league and second among rookies She was also named as an Eastern Conference
reserve for the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game
, and was one of the five members of the 2011 All-Rookie Team
, gaining 10 of a possible 11 votes from the league's head coaches.
During the WNBA season, she signed with the Turkish
club Beşiktaş, effective with the 2011–12 European season. Because the WNBA season is held in the northern hemisphere summer, the traditional offseason for basketball throughout the world, many of the league's players participate in overseas leagues during the traditional season and return to their WNBA teams in the summer.
Point guard
Point guard , also called the play maker or "the ball-handler", is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, he is expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that...
with the Chicago Sky
Chicago Sky
The Chicago Sky is a professional basketball team based in Rosemont, Illinois, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the 2006 WNBA season began. The team is owned by Michael J. Alter and Margaret Stender...
in the WNBA
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
and Beşiktaş in the Turkish Women's Basketball League
Turkish Women's Basketball League
The Turkish Women’s Basketball League is the top women’s professional basketball league in Turkey organized by the Turkish Basketball Federation. The women’s league started in 1980...
(TKBL). The third selection in the 2011 WNBA Draft
2011 WNBA Draft
The 2011 WNBA Draft is the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The draft was held on April 11, 2011 at the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut...
, she had a successful first season in which she was selected for the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game
2011 WNBA All-Star Game
The 2011 WNBA All-Star Game was played on July 23, 2011 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, home of the San Antonio Silver Stars. The game was the 10th WNBA All-Star Game, which has been held annually since 1999 except in 2004, 2008, and 2010...
and named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team
WNBA All-Rookie Team
The WNBA All-Rookie Team is an annual Women's National Basketball Association honor given since the 2005 WNBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the WNBA head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for players on their own team. Each coach selects five...
.
During her college career at Gonzaga University
Gonzaga Bulldogs
The Gonzaga Bulldogs are the athletic teams at Gonzaga University; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Gonzaga University is a member of the West Coast Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I...
, she was the only women's player in West Coast Conference
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
history to be named the conference's player of the year three times, and also the only player to be named MVP of the WCC Women's Tournament
West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament is the annual concluding tournament for the NCAA college basketball in the West Coast Conference. The winner receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship...
three times. In her final season at Gonzaga, she won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award
Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award
The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award is an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor shorter–than–average players who excel on the court despite their size. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter–in–law, was established for men in 1969 and for women in 1984...
as the top NCAA Division I women's player no taller than 5'8" (1.73 m) and Nancy Lieberman Award
Nancy Lieberman Award
The Nancy Lieberman Award, named for Basketball Hall of Fame legend Nancy Lieberman, is given annually by the Rotary Club of Detroit to the nation's top collegiate point guard in women's Division I basketball...
as the top player at her position in Division I women's basketball. Vandersloot is also the first Division I player, male or female, to have accumulated 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in a career, and only the second female overall (current Old Dominion head coach Karen Barefoot accomplished the feat at Division III Christopher Newport University
Christopher Newport University
Christopher Newport University, or CNU, is a public liberal arts university located in Newport News, Virginia, United States. CNU is the youngest comprehensive university in the Commonwealth of Virginia...
).
Early life
Born in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington to parents who both worked for BoeingBoeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
, Vandersloot grew up in a neighborhood with many children her age, and said in a 2011 interview that "all we did was play sports, all sports." Her father built a sports court with a basketball goal behind the family house, but she almost never played there, choosing instead to play at a hoop in front of a neighbor's house where she could easily be seen by other children in the neighborhood. Most important to her future development as a player, she regularly played against boys. During the third grade, she wrote a school paper about her dreams of one day playing in the WNBA
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
.
While Vandersloot regularly played basketball and many other sports as a child—she was also on a fast-pitch
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
softball team that was runner-up in a Washington state tournament at age 11— her favorite sport was soccer; she had a poster of Mia Hamm
Mia Hamm
Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm is a retired American soccer player. Hamm played many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team and was a founding member of the Washington Freedom. Hamm has scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female,...
on her bedroom wall. She did not concentrate on basketball until high school:
High school
Vandersloot became a basketball star at Kentwood High SchoolKentwood High School (Washington)
Kentwood High School is a high school in Covington, Washington. Kentwood is one of four high schools in the Kent School District. It serves students in grades nine through twelve who live in mainly in the east central region of the district...
in her hometown. Her coach, Keith Hennig, a former player at Central Washington University
Central Washington University
Central Washington University, often abbreviated CWU, is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington in the United States.This location was selected by the state legislature as a consolation prize after Ellensburg lost its bid to be state capital...
who is 6 inches taller than Vandersloot, regularly played one-on-one against her either before or after the team's practice. He would later say, "I did not take it easy on her at all. I was more physical than anything she's ever been used to. At times, I wasn't too nice. I would ride her and foul her. I'd put my hand in her face and she would whine and complain about fouls. I'd say, 'There's no fouls out here.' " She eventually reached the point where she regularly beat her coach off the dribble.
A pivotal moment in her life came during the summer before her sophomore year, when she went with a friend to the Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University is a private Roman Catholic university located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and is named after the young Jesuit saint, Aloysius Gonzaga...
girls' basketball camp. She would say about the trip in 2011, "I just fell in love with this place. I felt so comfortable here." The Gonzaga women's basketball staff was equally enthusiastic about her, except for head coach Kelly Graves
Kelly Graves
Kelly Graves is the head women's basketball coach at Gonzaga University. From 2004-2005 season to present, he guided Gonzaga to seven consecutive West Coast Conference regular season titles. The 2007 team went 13-1 in conference play, and later won the WCC conference tournament. The school also...
, who had little opportunity to see her during the camp. Graves would finally get to see Vandersloot at length in her junior year, on the day before the 2006 Washington Class 4A state tournament. He offered her a scholarship
Athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...
after seeing her practice, even though he did not stay for the tournament.
That season, she had averaged more than 18 points and 7 assists as she led Kentwood to its first state tournament appearance; they would lose in the second round of the tournament to Spokane's University High, led by future Tennessee
Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball
The Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team represents the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA women's basketball competition...
star Angie Bjorklund
Angie Bjorklund
Angie Bjorklund was a women's NCAA basketball player for the Tennessee Lady Vols. Is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky in the WNBA...
. After that season, Vandersloot was asked by many people if she would consider Washington
Washington Huskies
Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The school is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. The athletic program is made up of 9 men's sports and 10 women's sports Washington Huskies is the nickname of the University of Washington's athletic teams. The...
or another Pac-10 school, but decided against it after a Pac-10 assistant told Hennig she was too small. She would eventually sign
National Letter of Intent
The National Letter of Intent is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating NCAA colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manages the daily operations of the NLI program while the Collegiate Commissioners Association provides...
with Gonzaga in November 2006, during her senior year at Kentwood; she noted in 2011, "I wasn't really being highly recruited and I just didn't want to go through the stressful recruiting process, so I committed early to Gonzaga."
Vandersloot took her game to another level as a senior, averaging 26 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals while leading Kentwood to a third-place finish in the state tournament; their only loss was in the state semifinals. She scored 113 points in the tournament, one shy of the state record for a girls' tournament, and was named MVP. Vandersloot was also consensus first-team all-state, and was named the state's player of the year by the Seattle Times. Vandersloot was rated as the No. 64 national prospect, and No. 35 among guards, by Scout.com.
College career
By her own admission, Vandersloot came to Gonzaga as a shy freshman. During that first season, Graves suggested that she call the school's greatest point guard in history for advice—Hall of Famer John StocktonJohn Stockton
John Houston Stockton is a retired American professional basketball player who spent his entire career as a point guard for the Utah Jazz of the NBA from 1984 to 2003. Stockton is regarded as one of the best point guards of all time, holding the NBA records for most career assists and steals by...
. Vandersloot would recall that it "took me a couple of weeks to build up," and when she finally called Stockton for the first time, she hoped that she would reach his voice mail so she wouldn't have to talk. Vandersloot eventually worked with Stockton throughout her Gonzaga career.
As a freshman in 2007–08, she was the West Coast Conference
West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....
newcomer of the year and named to the 10-member All-WCC first team after averaging 10.3 points, 5.7 assists, and 1.9 steals per game entering the WCC tournament
West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament is the annual concluding tournament for the NCAA college basketball in the West Coast Conference. The winner receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship...
, finishing in the top five in the WCC in the latter two categories while the Zags went 13–1 in conference play and earned the tournament's top seed. However, the Bulldogs lost in the WCC final to San Diego and ultimately missed out on the NCAA Tournament, playing instead in the WNIT
2008 Women's National Invitation Tournament
The 2008 Women's National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 48 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams that did not participate in the 2008 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. The 40th annual tournament was played from March 19, 2008 to...
. They defeated UC Davis
UC Davis Aggies
The UC Davis Aggies compete in NCAA Division I sports in the Big West Conference. For football, the Aggies compete in Division I FCS , and are members of the Great West Conference, granting UC Davis the distinction of being one of only three UC campuses to field a football team...
in the first round before falling to Colorado
Colorado Buffaloes women's basketball
The Colorado Buffaloes women's basketball team represents the University of Colorado and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I.-Conferences:Colorado has played in the Big 8 and the Big 12 conferences...
in the second round.
| Year | Team Record (WCC) | Games Played/Started | Minutes/Game | Points/Game | Rebounds/Game | Assists/Game | Turnovers/Game | Assist/Turnover Ratio | Steals/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–08 | 25–9 (13–1) | 34/27 | 28.3 | 10.6 | 3.9 | 5.6 | 3.0 | 1.85 | 1.8 |
In her 2008–09 sophomore season, she set a school record in assists with 239; at the end of the regular season, her average of 7.3 per game led the conference, and she was also third in the conference in scoring at 16.4 per game. Vandersloot won the first of what would be three WCC Player of the Year awards. The Bulldogs went on to win the WCC Tournament
West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament is the annual concluding tournament for the NCAA college basketball in the West Coast Conference. The winner receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship...
, with Vandersloot named tournament MVP. In the NCAA Tournament
2009 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The regionals, held in the city rather than the geographic area as a practice that has been used since 2005, were held there from March 28 to 31 at these sites:...
, the Zags defeated Xavier for the program's first NCAA Tournament win before narrowly losing in the second round to Pitt
Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball
Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate women's basketball program of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pitt women's basketball team competes in the Big East Conference and plays their home games...
.
| Year | Team Record (WCC) | Games Played/Started | Minutes/Game | Points/Game | Rebounds/Game | Assists/Game | Turnovers/Game | Assist/Turnover Ratio | Steals/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008–09 | 27–7 (12–2) | 32/31 | 32.8 | 16.4 | 4.1 | 7.5 | 3.8 | 1.99 | 2.2 |
As a junior in 2009–10, Vandersloot led Division I in assists, averaging 9.4 per game, while leading the Zags to an unbeaten record in conference play. During that season, she broke her own school record for assists in a season with 321, and also broke the Gonzaga and WCC records for career assists. Vandersloot was again named both WCC Player of the Year and WCC Tournament MVP while leading the Bulldogs to a second consecutive WCC Tournament title. In the NCAA Tournament
2010 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2010 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament started Saturday, March 20, 2010 and was completed on Tuesday, April 6 of the same year with University of Connecticut Huskies defending their title from the previous year by defeating Stanford, 53-47. The tournament bids were announced on...
, Vandersloot led the Zags one round farther than in 2009, upsetting No. 2 seed (and 2011 champion
2011 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2011 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament began on March 19, 2011 and concluded on April 5, 2011. The Texas A&M Aggies won the championship....
) Texas A&M
Texas A&M Aggies women's basketball
The Texas A&M Aggies women's basketball team represents Texas A&M University in NCAA Division I women's basketball. The team has been coached by Gary Blair since 2003. The Aggies play home games at Reed Arena, a 12,500-capacity arena in College Station, Texas on the campus of Texas A&M.The Aggies...
before losing in the Sweet Sixteen to the Xavier team they had knocked out the year before.
| Year | Team Record (WCC) | Games Played/Started | Minutes/Game | Points/Game | Rebounds/Game | Assists/Game | Turnovers/Game | Assist/Turnover Ratio | Steals/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009–10 | 29–5 (14–0) | 34/34 | 32.6 | 14.1 | 3.8 | 9.4 | 4.3 | 2.21 | 3.6 |
Her senior year at Gonzaga, 2010–11, can be summed up as a season of milestones. She led the WCC in both scoring and assists on the way to a second straight unbeaten season in conference play. Vandersloot was named WCC Player of the Year for an unprecedented third time. The Zags again won the WCC Tournament, and Vandersloot was named tournament MVP for the third straight time, also becoming the first women's player in WCC history to win that honor three times.
In the NCAA Tournament
2011 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2011 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament began on March 19, 2011 and concluded on April 5, 2011. The Texas A&M Aggies won the championship....
, the Bulldogs were a No. 11 seed, but had the advantage of playing their first-round and potential second-round games at their home court of McCarthey Athletic Center
McCarthey Athletic Center
McCarthey Athletic Center or "MAC" is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Spokane, Washington. The arena opened in 2004. It is home to the Gonzaga University Bulldogs basketball program, and is often called "The New Kennel". This nickname was inherited from the school's former basketball arena,...
. They would take full advantage of their home court in the first two rounds. The Zags, seeded No. 11 in their region, opened the tournament with a 92–86 upset of Iowa
Iowa Hawkeyes
The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletics teams that represent the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 24 sports, 11 for men and 13 for women. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and are members of the...
, with Vandersloot scoring a career-high 34 points. In their second-round game against No. 3 seed UCLA
UCLA Bruins women's basketball
The UCLA Bruins women's basketball program was established in 1974. The Current coach is Cori Close The team was a member of the AIAW until joining the NCAA in 1984...
, Vandersloot finished with 29 points and 17 assists, one assist shy of the record for a Division I tournament game, as the Zags took down the Bruins 89–75. During that game, she became the first player in Division I history to amass 2,000 career points and 1,000 career assists. The win advanced them to the Sweet Sixteen for the second straight year, and to a regional tournament that would be held less than two miles (3 km) from the Gonzaga campus at Spokane Arena
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena a multi-purpose arena, located in Spokane, Washington, USA.It is home to the Spokane Chiefs, of the WHL and the Spokane Shock, of the AFL.-Construction:...
.
During the Bulldogs' next game, a 76–69 win over Louisville
Louisville Cardinals
The Louisville Cardinals are the athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. A member of the Big East Conference since 2005, they are known nationally as traditional powers in men's basketball, women's volleyball, and dance team...
, Vandersloot broke the Division I women's record for assists in a season previously held by Suzie McConnell. She finished with 29 points, 7 assists, and 7 steals as the Zags became the lowest-seeded team ever to reach a regional final in the women's tournament. Their tournament run, and Vandersloot's college career, would end one game later as Stanford
2010–11 Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team
The 2010–11 Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team represented Stanford University in the 2010–11 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cardinal, coached by Tara VanDerveer, and a member of the Pacific-10 Conference, won the conference's regular-season and tournament titles and advanced...
would defeat the Zags 83–60. While she finished with 26 points, only four came in the second half. In addition to her other milestones during the season, she also broke the Gonzaga single-season scoring record.
| Year | Team Record (WCC) | Games Played/Started | Minutes/Game | Points/Game | Rebounds/Game | Assists/Game | Turnovers/Game | Assist/Turnover Ratio | Steals/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | 31–5 (14–0) | 36/36 | 32.9 | 19.8 | 8.4 | 10.2 | 3.3 | 3.08 | 3.2 |
Vandersloot became one of the most decorated players of the 2010–11 season. She won the women's Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award
Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award
The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award is an annual college basketball award in the United States intended to honor shorter–than–average players who excel on the court despite their size. The award, named in honor of James Naismith's daughter–in–law, was established for men in 1969 and for women in 1984...
as the top Division I player no taller than 5'8" (1.73 m), and the Nancy Lieberman Award
Nancy Lieberman Award
The Nancy Lieberman Award, named for Basketball Hall of Fame legend Nancy Lieberman, is given annually by the Rotary Club of Detroit to the nation's top collegiate point guard in women's Division I basketball...
as the top point guard in Division I women's basketball. She was also named to multiple All-America teams. The AP named her a second-team All-America; she became the first women's player in WCC history to be named to that specific team. She also was named to the five-woman Wooden All-America
John R. Wooden Award
The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The program consists of the men's and women's Player of the Year awards, the Legends of Coaching award and recognizes the All–America Teams.The awards, given by the Los...
Team, another honor never before achieved by a WCC player. Finally, she was named to the 10-player USBWA
United States Basketball Writers Association
The United States Basketball Writers Association was founded in 1956 by Walter Byers and serves the interests of journalists who cover college basketball.-Scholarships:...
All-America team, becoming the first Gonzaga player so honored, and the 10-member State Farm
State farm
State farm can refer to:*Sovkhoz, a type of state-owned farm in the Soviet Union*Volkseigenes Gut, a type of state-owned farm in East Germany*Państwowe Gospodarstwo Rolne, a type of state-owned farm in People's Republic of Poland...
Coaches
Women's Basketball Coaches Association
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels.The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches.The mission of the WBCA is:...
All-America team, another first for a WCC player.
Her impact on the Gonzaga program can be measured by another statistic—home attendance. The year before she arrived in Spokane
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, the Bulldogs averaged 1,492 with a team that would make its first NCAA Tournament appearance. By her junior year, attendance had risen to 2,935, and rose again to 3,824 in her senior season, with the Zags selling out the McCarthey Athletic Center twice before the NCAA tournament.
Professional career
Vandersloot was widely considered to be one of the top prospects in the 2011 WNBA Draft2011 WNBA Draft
The 2011 WNBA Draft is the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The draft was held on April 11, 2011 at the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut...
. Her relatively small size had been a subject of concern, as was her defense—despite averaging 4.5 steals per game in the 2011 NCAA tournament and ending her Gonzaga career with 366. However, she was seen as likely to be one of the top seven picks, and was ultimately picked third overall by the Chicago Sky. One indicator of her likely draft position was that Indiana Fever
Indiana Fever
The Indiana Fever is a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the 2000 season began...
coach Lin Dunn
Lin Dunn
Lin Dunn is an American longtime women's basketball coach. She is most known for being the first coach and general manager for the Seattle Storm. She has more than 500 wins to her name....
, whose team needed depth at point guard going into the 2011 season
2011 WNBA season
The 2011 WNBA season is the 15th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. The regular season began on June 3 with the Los Angeles Sparks hosting the Minnesota Lynx, featuring 2011 WNBA Draft top pick Maya Moore, in a game televised on NBA TV...
, signed Shannon Bobbitt
Shannon Bobbitt
Shannon Denise Bobbitt is an American professional basketball player for the WNBA's Indiana Fever. One of eight children and a native of the Bronx, New York Bobbitt honed her basketball skills on the neighborhood project courts of Harlem...
in February, convinced that Vandersloot would be picked before the Fever's turn at #9.
John Stockton
John Stockton
John Houston Stockton is a retired American professional basketball player who spent his entire career as a point guard for the Utah Jazz of the NBA from 1984 to 2003. Stockton is regarded as one of the best point guards of all time, holding the NBA records for most career assists and steals by...
has given Vandersloot high praise, stating, "I don’t want to dramatize it too much but she’s like Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
in hockey. There is something that separates Courtney from others. (Adam) Morrison
Adam Morrison
Adam John Morrison is an American basketball player who is currently free agent after being released from KK Crvena zvezda....
(a recent Gonzaga men's
Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball
The Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Gonzaga University. The school competes in the West Coast Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...
standout) was a little bit the same way."
In her rookie season
2011 Chicago Sky season
The 2011 WNBA season is the 6th season for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association. Sky center Sylvia Fowles finished the season as only the second player in WNBA history to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds per game.-WNBA Draft:...
, she became the Sky's regular starter at the point, ultimately starting 26 of the team's 34 games. Her average of 3.7 assists per game was 11th in the league and second among rookies She was also named as an Eastern Conference
Eastern Conference (WNBA)
The Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association is made up of six teams.The Eastern Conference playoffs is divided into two playoff rounds, The Conference Semi-Finals and The Conference Finals with the winner of the Conference Championship facing the Western Conference...
reserve for the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game
2011 WNBA All-Star Game
The 2011 WNBA All-Star Game was played on July 23, 2011 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, home of the San Antonio Silver Stars. The game was the 10th WNBA All-Star Game, which has been held annually since 1999 except in 2004, 2008, and 2010...
, and was one of the five members of the 2011 All-Rookie Team
WNBA All-Rookie Team
The WNBA All-Rookie Team is an annual Women's National Basketball Association honor given since the 2005 WNBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the WNBA head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for players on their own team. Each coach selects five...
, gaining 10 of a possible 11 votes from the league's head coaches.
During the WNBA season, she signed with the Turkish
Turkish Women's Basketball League
The Turkish Women’s Basketball League is the top women’s professional basketball league in Turkey organized by the Turkish Basketball Federation. The women’s league started in 1980...
club Beşiktaş, effective with the 2011–12 European season. Because the WNBA season is held in the northern hemisphere summer, the traditional offseason for basketball throughout the world, many of the league's players participate in overseas leagues during the traditional season and return to their WNBA teams in the summer.
External links
- Courtney Vandersloot at Gonzaga UniversityGonzaga BulldogsThe Gonzaga Bulldogs are the athletic teams at Gonzaga University; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Gonzaga University is a member of the West Coast Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I...