A'Quonesia Krashun Franklin (born September 29, 1985), also known as Aqua, is an American basketball coach and former player. She played two seasons in the WNBA. She was a three-year captain of the Texas A&M team from the 2005–06 to 2007–08 seasons. She received

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honorable mention honors from the

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two times, and has also received all-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

honors. In May 2019, she was named the head coach of the

Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the ...

women's basketball team.

Playing career

Early life

Born and raised in

Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...

, Franklin attended

John Tyler High School Tyler High School, formerly known as John Tyler High School, is a public co-educational secondary school in Tyler, Texas. It is part of the Tyler Independent School District. It serves grades 9 through 12. About Tyler High School was named af ...

, where she earned first team all-state, first team All-East Texas, and first team all-regional honors as a senior. She earned district

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

honors both her junior and senior year. She was also named the East Texas MVP her senior years. As a senior, her team won the district championship and reached the regional semifinals. She averaged 12 points and three assists as a junior, and averaged 14.5 points and six assists as a senior. She played in the Texas Girls Coaches Association Texas-Oklahoma All-Star game. During the summer after her senior year, she won an AAU championship with the Houston Elite team. She chose to attend Texas A&M over Stephen F. Austin,

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, and

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the University of Texas Syste ...

College

During her freshman season at Texas A&M, she was the only freshman in the Big 12 to

start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

as a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

. She was named

Rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

of the Week for three weeks. She received All-

honorable mention her sophomore season. In her junior season, she helped the Aggies win the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

regular season title, becoming a part of the first Texas A&M team to do so. She was named to the All-

First Team after the regular season. She was also named Big 12 Player of the Week for two weeks. Her team received a No. 4 bid to play in the 2007 NCAA basketball tournament. The team defeated

Texas-Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the second oldest university in the University of Texas System and was founded in 1895. It was in the Texas A&M ...

in the first round but lost to

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

in the second round. She received

honorable mention honors by the

after the tournament. In her senior season, she made the All-

Second Team. The Aggies won the Big 12 Tournament, and received an automatic bid to play in the 2008 NCAA basketball tournament. She and her team were able to defeat 15th-seeded UTSA in the first round,

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

in the second, and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

in the Sweet Sixteen matchup. They advanced to the Elite Eight to play 7-time national champion

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, and lost 53–45. After the tournament, Franklin received honorable mention

honors by the

. She would finish her A&M career with 627 assists, ranking fourth all-time in A&M women's basketball history. In 2018, she was named to the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Texas A&M statistics

Source

Professional

Franklin was selected by the

Sacramento Monarchs The Sacramento Monarchs were a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 until folding on November 20, 2009. They played their home games at ARCO Aren ...

at No. 38 in the

2008 WNBA draft The WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which Women's National Basketball Association teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The 2008 draft was held on April 9. A lottery was held on Octobe ...

. In her rookie season, Franklin played in 34 games and averaged 1.6 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. Her team fell to San Antonio in the first round of the 2008 WNBA Playoffs. After the 2008 WNBA Playoffs ended, Franklin signed with

Basketligan dam Svenska Basketligan, or the Swedish Basketball League (SBL), is the premier league for professional basketball in Sweden. The league was originally established in 1992 as Basketligan and was known as that prior to the season of 2006–07, but whe ...

club

Solna Vikings Solna Vikings was a Swedish professional basketball club with a men's team and a women's team. Both played in their respective top leagues: the women in the Damligan, and the men in the Swedish Basketball League. History The Solna Vikings was ...

in October 2008. In her debut, she posted 13 points and 3 rebounds in a victory against

Luleå Basket Luleå Basket is a professional women's basketball club in Luleå, Sweden. The club was established as Luleå Basketbollklubb (BBK) in 1978. The team competes in the Basketligan dam Svenska Basketligan, or the Swedish Basketball League (SBL), is ...

. In 9 Basketligan games for the Vikings, she averaged 6.3 points and 2.8 assists. She also appeared in 8 games in the EuroCup, averaging 8.4 points and 4.0 assists. On March 20, 2009 the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

traded

Barbara Farris Barbara Farris (born September 10, 1976) is a retired basketball player formerly of the Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA. On May 29, 2009, Farris signed with the Detroit Shock. Farris previously played for the New York Liberty. In t ...

to the

for Franklin and Kim Smith. In May 2009, she signed with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

on a training camp contract. She was waived by the Storm on June 4 before signing again with the team on September 10.

WNBA career statistics

=Regular season

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Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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=Postseason

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Coaching career

Franklin returned to Texas A&M to pursue her graduate education. She also served as a color analyst for the women's basketball team. She served as a graduate assistant for Aggies head coach Gary Blair. She became an assistant coach for Stephen F. Austin Women's Basketball Team in May 2010. After 1 year at SFA she joined Kansas Jayhawks. She became an assistant coach for the Kansas Jayhawks women's basketball team in May 2011. After one season with the Jayhawks, she joined the Mississippi State Lady Bulldog staff in 2012. Following her year at Mississippi State where she helped the team to the most overall wins for a season in program history, she returned to Kansas as the associate head coach for Kansas. She served in this position for four years before being named the head coach at Lamar University in 2019.

References

External links

* *
WNBA Training Camp interview
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, A'Quonesia 1985 births Living people American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from Texas Lamar Lady Cardinals basketball coaches Point guards Sacramento Monarchs players Seattle Storm players Solna Vikings players Sportspeople from Tyler, Texas Texas A&M Aggies women's basketball players 21st-century American women