Janel McCarville (born November 3, 1982 in
Stevens Point, WisconsinStevens Point is a city in and the county seat of Portage County, Wisconsin, United States. Located in the central part of the state, it is the largest city in the county, with a population of 24,551 at the 2000 census...
) is an American professional
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
player. She currently plays center for the WNBA's
New York LibertyThe New York Liberty is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in New York City. They are one of the eight original WNBA teams that began to see action in 1997, as well one of the most successful teams in WNBA history. Despite making the WNBA playoffs almost every season and...
.
McCarville attended
Stevens Point Area Senior HighStevens Point Area Senior High is a high school located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. It is part of the Stevens Point Area School District. As the only public high school serving Stevens Point and some surrounding cities, it is the largest high school in the state of Wisconsin by population served....
(SPASH) (Wisconsin), where she led her school to a 59-11 record over her final three years.
As a senior McCarville averaged 19.4 ppg and led her team to a runner-up finish in the 2001 Wisconsin Division I State Tournament, with tournament averages of 21.7 ppg and 14.7 rpg.
Janel McCarville (born November 3, 1982 in
Stevens Point, WisconsinStevens Point is a city in and the county seat of Portage County, Wisconsin, United States. Located in the central part of the state, it is the largest city in the county, with a population of 24,551 at the 2000 census...
) is an American professional
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
player. She currently plays center for the WNBA's
New York LibertyThe New York Liberty is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in New York City. They are one of the eight original WNBA teams that began to see action in 1997, as well one of the most successful teams in WNBA history. Despite making the WNBA playoffs almost every season and...
.
High school years
McCarville attended
Stevens Point Area Senior HighStevens Point Area Senior High is a high school located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. It is part of the Stevens Point Area School District. As the only public high school serving Stevens Point and some surrounding cities, it is the largest high school in the state of Wisconsin by population served....
(SPASH) (Wisconsin), where she led her school to a 59-11 record over her final three years.
As a senior McCarville averaged 19.4 ppg and led her team to a runner-up finish in the 2001 Wisconsin Division I State Tournament, with tournament averages of 21.7 ppg and 14.7 rpg. She shared the Wisconsin Player of the Year award with
Mistie Williams (née Bass) and was honored as an AAU All-American and a member of the 2001 all-state first team.
College years
McCarville was a standout collegiate women's
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
player for the
University of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States...
(Twin Cities). From there she was nicknamed "Shaq".
McCarville started all four years during her time with the
Golden GophersThe Minnesota Golden Gophers are the college sports team for the University of Minnesota. The university fields both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, gymnastics, golf, ice hockey, swimming, tennis, and track and field. Men's-specific sports include baseball, football, and...
, playing alongside her teammate
Lindsay WhalenLindsay Marie Whalen is an American professional basketball player. She currently plays the point guard position for the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA. She also plays for USK Prague in the Czech Republic during the 2008-09 WNBA off-season...
, and turned the program around from being the worst in the
Big Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its eleven member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Iowa and Minnesota in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
into a
Final FourFinal Four is a sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably the NCAA Division I college basketball tournament. Typically it refers to a tournament format where four teams play two rounds of single-elimination games, resulting in a...
team in 2004.
McCarville is in the top five of every major statistical category at for the Golden Gophers' women's team, including points,
reboundA rebound in basketball is the act of successfully gaining possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made....
s,
assistIn basketball, an assist is attributed to a player who passes the ball to a teammate in a way that leads to a score by field goal, meaning that he or she was "assisting" in the basket. There is some judgment involved in deciding whether a passer should be credited with an assist...
s, steals, and
blockIn basketball, a block occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a shot from an offensive player. The defender must not touch the offensive player's hands or otherwise a foul is called. In order to be legal, the block must occur while the shot is traveling upward...
s. McCarville holds the
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...
record for most rebounds in the tournament, with 75 rebounds in five games. She also holds the NCAA record for tournament rebound average, with 15 per game.
WNBA career
In the
2005 WNBA DraftThe WNBA Draft is an annual draft held by the Women's National Basketball Association through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players...
, McCarville was picked by
Charlotte StingThe Charlotte Sting was a Women's National Basketball Association franchise based in Charlotte, North Carolina and it was one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007....
as the #1 overall selection.
At Charlotte, she missed a number of games due to injury and her performance when able to play did not meet the expectations associated with the #1 draft pick.
In the spring of 2007, after the Sting folded, McCarville was claimed by New York in the WNBA
dispersal draftA dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team goes out of business, consolidates with another team, or for some other reason ceases to exist. Since most sports drafts are held in North America, this is where most dispersal drafts...
. During the first half of the 2007 season she earned a place in the Liberty starting lineup, displacing rookie
Jessica DavenportJessica Davenport, born June 24, 1985, is a reserve center for the WNBA's Indiana Fever. She previously played for The Ohio State University's women's basketball team....
. On August 25, 2007, McCarville was named most improved player of the 2007 season.
McCarville continued to contribute significantly to the Liberty's success in 2008. She was named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week on two occasions during the 2008 season.
International career
McCarville was a member of the United States team that won a
silver medalA silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc....
at the 2003
Pan American GamesThe Pan American Games are a multi-sport event, held every four years in the year before the summer Olympic Games and between competitors from all nations in the Americas...
in
Santo DomingoSanto Domingo, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, estimated at 2,253,437 in 2006. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
,
Dominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are occupied by two countries...
.
During the 2006-7 and 2007-8 EuroLeague seasons, McCarville has played for Kosice,
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
with former
Charlotte StingThe Charlotte Sting was a Women's National Basketball Association franchise based in Charlotte, North Carolina and it was one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007....
teammate
Kelly MazzanteKelly Anne Mazzante is a professional basketball player in the WNBA, playing for the Phoenix Mercury. She is the all-time leading scorer in Big Ten basketball history .-Early life and college career:...
.
In the fall of 2007, McCarville was named to the USA Select basketball team and helped that team take second place in the 2007 FIBA World League tournament. After the current WNBA season, Janel intends to play for the CSKA Moscow Women's Basketball team.
Vital statistics
- Position: Center
The center, colloquially known as the five or the pivot, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. The center is normally the tallest on the team, and often has a great deal of strength and body mass as well...
- Height: 6 ft. 2 in. / 1.88 m
- Parents: Terence & Bonnie McCarville
- College: University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States...
- Current Team: New York Liberty
The New York Liberty is a Women's National Basketball Association team based in New York City. They are one of the eight original WNBA teams that began to see action in 1997, as well one of the most successful teams in WNBA history. Despite making the WNBA playoffs almost every season and...
(WNBA)
External links