Andrea Congreaves (born 3 June 1970) is a British former basketball player born in Epsom, Surrey who played professionally for the women's England's national team while also playing in the United States, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Britain throughout her career.Colin Jackson,
Raise Your Game: Andrea Congreaves
" BBC (2012). Retrieved 5 July 2014. She is the former head coach of the

Rhondda Rebels The Rhondda Rebels is a women's basketball team from Rhondda in south Wales, who compete in Division 1 of the English Women's Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a women's basketball league in England, covering s ...

of the

English Women's Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a women's basketball league in England, covering semi-professional and amateur levels of the game. This is effectively seen as the second tier of women's basketball in the United Kingdom, along wi ...

(Division 1), and the current head coach of the Mansfield Giants of the English Basketball League (Division 2) as well as the women's team of the University of Nottingham.

College Career

Congreaves graduated from Carshalton High School for Girls in Carshalton, Sutton, in 1986. She played for the Carshalton High School girls' basketball team, and through a connection with her high school coach was eventually offered an athletic scholarship to attend university in the United States. Congreaves enrolled in Mercer University, an American private liberal arts college located in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

.Richard Taylor,
NBA: Jump up for Congreaves
" ''The Independent'' (7 May 1997). Retrieved 5 July 2014. While attending Mercer, she played for the Mercer Bears women's basketball team – the university's varsity women's team – from 1989 to 1993, and led the Lady Bears to two regular season championships in the Atlantic Sun Conference (1991, 1992). As a junior in 1991–92, and again as a senior in 1992–93, she led National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in scoring.Mark Bradley,
British Import Putting Her Stamp On U.S. Game
" ''Chicago Tribune'' (2 February 1992). Retrieved 5 July 2014. She was a first-team all-

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

selection in 1991, 1992 and 1993, and was the conference player of the year in 1992 and 1993. After her senior season in 1992–93, she was selected as an All-American by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) – recognising her as one of the top ten women players in NCAA Division I college basketball. Congreaves graduated from Mercer University with a four-year bachelor of arts degree in 1993, and was inducted into the university's athletic hall of fame in 2013.

WNBA Career

Congreaves was the first-ever British sportswoman to play in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the highest level professional league for women basketball players in the United States.British Basketball, The Players
Andrea Congreaves
Retrieved 5 July 2014. She was drafted in the fourth round (26th pick overall) of the

1997 WNBA draft The 1997 WNBA draft was the inaugural draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were thr ...

by the Charlotte Sting and played her debut game on June 22, 1997. On that day, the Sting loss to the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

59 - 76 although Congreaves was able to record 6 points and a rebound. The Sting finished the season 15 - 13 and made the playoffs but were eliminated in the semi-finals by the

Houston Comets The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...

. The next season, Congreaves played less minutes per game than her rookie season (going from 23.5 to 15.5 minutes) and thus had lower productivity across the board. However, she was still able to average a helpful 4.3 points, 3 rebounds and 1.5 assists and helped the Sting improve to a 18 - 12 record. Even with the better record, the Sting were once again eliminated in the playoff semi-finals by the Comets. On April 6, 1999, Congreaves was selected in the 1999 Expansion Draft and became a member of the newly formed

Orlando Miracle The Orlando Miracle were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Orlando, Florida. It began play in the 1999 WNBA season. The Miracle relocated, in 2003, to Uncasville, Connecticut, where the team became the Connecticut Su ...

. She started in all 32 games of the season and averaged the highest minutes per game of her career (25.4). Even though the Miracle won 5 of their last 6 season games, they finished the season 15 - 17 and fell short of the playoff picture (making it Congreaves' first time missing the playoffs). Congreaves did not play again in the WNBA after the 1999 season, but she would repeatedly sign contracts with the Miracle and then get subsequently waived by the team. On May 22, 2001, she was waived by the Miracle before the season started. And then a year later on May 24, 2002, she would be waived by the Miracle again after resigning but not playing a game for the team. Her final WNBA game was thus the last game of the 1999 regular season on August 21, 1999. The Orlando Miracle would lose to the

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. ...

68 - 74 in that game with Congreaves recording 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block. During her three WNBA seasons, she appeared in 84 of 90 games played by her teams, starting 58 of them, and scoring exactly 500 points in her career.Basketball-Reference.com, Players
Andrea Congreaves
Retrieved 5 July 2014.WNBA.com, Players
Andrea Congreaves
. Retrieved 5 July 2014.

Later Career

Congreaves also enjoyed a successful European career in lengthy spells in Spain and Italy, as well as one-season stops in Turkey (where she contributed to the double championship of Fenerbahçe at the 1998–99 season) and France, before signing for the Rhondda Rebels for the 2005–06 season. She was the key performer on England's national team that won the bronze medal in

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

in Melbourne, averaging 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. England defeated Nigeria 78–75 in the women's consolation final to claim third place in the Games.

Mercer statistics

Source

Career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;",

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 28 , , 16 , , 23.5 , , .500 , , .409 , , .768 , , 4.8 , , 1.5 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 1.1 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 24 , , 10 , , 15.5 , , .432 , , .294 , , .905 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 1.0 , , 4.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, style="text-align:left;", Orlando , 32 , , 32 , , 25.4 , , .500 , , .366 , , .830 , , 3.2 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 1.5 , , 6.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 3 years, 2 teams , 84 , , 58 , , 21.9 , , .485 , , .353 , , .815 , , 3.6 , , 1.3 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 1.2 , , 6.0

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 1 , , 1 , , 32.0 , , .571 , , .667 , , .500 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 12.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 1 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , — , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 2 years, 1 team , 2 , , 1 , , 19.0 , , .500 , , .500 , , .500 , , 2.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 1.5 , , 6.0

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Congreaves, Andrea 1970 births Living people Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games British expatriate basketball people in Spain British expatriate basketball people in Turkey British expatriate basketball people in the United States British women's basketball players Centers (basketball) Charlotte Sting players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in basketball English women's basketball players Mercer Bears women's basketball players Orlando Miracle players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Epsom Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games