Dawn Staley

Dawn Michelle Staley ( born May 4, 1970 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) is a former professional basketball player. She played for the Charlotte Sting and the Houston Comets in the Women's National Basketball Association as a point guard.

Career

College

Staley played four years for the women's basketball team at the University of Virginia. In 1991, she led her team to the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship Finals, where the team had to give the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, the women's basketball team at the University of Tennessee, beaten.

ABL

In 1996, she joined the ABL and played in her first season for the Richmond Rage, with whom she came to the ABL finals. In 1997, the Rage were relocated to Philadelphia, so she played in the 1997/98 season for the Philadelphia Rage. Since the ABL was dissolved after only two seasons, she had involuntarily terminate her career in the ABL.

WNBA

After the ABL was disbanded, she moved like many other ABL Stars in the WNBA, where she was selected by the Charlotte Sting in total as the ninth player in the WNBA Draft 1999. In the 2001 season, she led the Sting to the WNBA Finals, where they the Los Angeles Sparks was beaten with the Sting 0-2.

Before the start of the 2005 season Staley announced that this was her last season as a player in the WNBA. On August 1, 2005 Staley was transferred to the Houston Comets. The Comets reached this season's playoffs, where they had to give but to beat the Sacramento Monarchs in the Western Conference Finals 0-2.

Internationally

Staley took the U.S. women's basketball team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the gold medal. At the opening ceremony of the Games in Athens Staley was the flag bearer for the United States.