Betty Bernice Lennox (born December 4, 1976) is an American retired professional basketball player. She played for the Minnesota Lynx,

Miami Sol The Miami Sol were a professional women's basketball team that was based in Miami and entered the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 2000. They played their games at American Airlines Arena as the sister team to the Miami Heat of the ...

Cleveland Rockers The Cleveland Rockers were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Cleveland, that played from 1997 until 2003. The Rockers were one of the original eight franchises of the WNBA, which started in 1997. The owner was Gordon Gu ...

, Seattle Storm,

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real e ...

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

and

Tulsa Shock The Tulsa Shock were a professional basketball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Detroit, Michigan before the 1998 WNBA season began; t ...

in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). Her nicknames include "Betty Basketball," "Betty Big Buckets," and her most popular nickname "B-Money."

Childhood

Born in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, Oklahoma, Lennox grew up in the small town of

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom * Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama * Grant, Inyo County, ...

. Daughter of Bernice Jefferies and A. B. Lennox, and was raised by her mother primarily. She was the eighth of nine children and the youngest daughter in the family. She has five brothers, named Freddy, Karl, A. B., Alfred, and Charles. She also has three sisters named Lela, Ruby, and Victoria, all of them older than she is. She learned to play basketball with her four older brothers and one younger, who did not cut her any slack because she was a girl. She would learn to not be intimated by others while playing with her brothers as a child. She also developed her work ethic from growing up on a farm with her family. She was loading bales by age ten, each bale weighing 30 to 40 pounds, and did many daily chores while in primary school in Grant. Her full name is Betty Bernice Lennox, getting her middle name from her mother.

High school career

Betty spent three years attending

Fort Osage High School Fort Osage High School is a high school located at 2101 N. Twyman Rd. in unincorporated area, unincorporated Jackson County, Missouri, in the Kansas City metropolitan area, adjacent to Independence, Missouri, Independence. It belongs to the Fort ...

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020, ...

, under the coaching of Dale Williams. Betty played her sophomore year at Grant High School in Grant, OK. She originally learned the six-player game of basketball while in Oklahoma. She struggled when her family moved to Missouri, as she was not used to crossing over the center line to be a defensive player, as she had only been an offensive player while in Oklahoma.

College years

Lennox played college basketball at

Trinity Valley Community College Trinity Valley Community College (TVCC) is a public community college based in Athens, Texas. It has four campuses serving five counties across the southeast and eastern parts of the state. About TVCC operates four campuses serving the Texas co ...

in Athens, Texas for her sophomore year. Trinity Valley was her second community college, as she originally enrolled and played her Freshman year at

Butler Community College Butler Community College (BCC) is a public community college in El Dorado, Kansas. Campus There are a number of branch campuses throughout the area, in Andover, Council Grove, Marion, McConnell, Rose Hill, and a number of distance-learnin ...

in Kansas garnering all conference honors. She would transfer to Trinity Valley CC after her freshman year in 1996. Her Cardinals Trinity Valley CC team won the 1997

NJCAA Women's Basketball Championship The NJCAA women's basketball championship is an American intercollegiate basketball tournament conducted by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and determines the women's national champion. The tournament has been held since ...

, an accomplishment she is most proud of. She was the MVP of the tournament, and finished the championship game with 27 points and 20 rebounds. Lennox then transferred to

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research acti ...

, and graduated from there in 2000 with a BA in psychology. She took a year off from basketball while at LA Tech in 1998 to devote herself to her studies in order to complete her degree. She would play basketball for LA Tech for her final two years of college in 1999 & 2000. She was named the 2000 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and a U.S. Basketball Writers Association First Team All-American while at

WNBA career

Lennox was selected by the Minnesota Lynx as the sixth overall pick in the 2000 WNBA Draft and later became the WNBA's Rookie of the Year in 2000. She was also the first Rookie to ever play in a WNBA All-Star Game that same year. She also made the All-WNBA 2nd Team in 2000 as well. She broke her hip in 2001, and was originally told that her basketball career would be over after the injury. With the work ethic she learned as a child, she fought back from her injury to come back and continued to thrive as a player. On June 13, 2002, the Minnesota Lynx traded Lennox along with a 2003 first-round draft pick to the

in exchange for

Tamara Moore __NOTOC__ Tamara may refer to: People * Tamara (name), including a list of people with this name * Tamara (Spanish singer) (born 1984) * Tamara, stage name of Spanish singer Yurena (born 1969) * Tamara, stage name of Macedonian singer Tamara Tod ...

and a 2003 second-round draft pick. After the 2002 season ended, the

folded and Lennox was selected by the

in the 2003 WNBA

Dispersal draft A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team ceases to exist or is merged with another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in North America. ...

. When the Rockers folded after the 2003 season ended, Lennox went through another Dispersal Draft before the 2004 season. This time, she was selected by the Seattle Storm. Playing alongside Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson, Lennox helped lead the Seattle Storm to the 2004 WNBA Championship against the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established as the Orlando Miracle in ...

, winning 2–1 in the series. She was named the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Most Valuable Player, averaging 22.3 points per game during the series en route to winning the award. In 2005 with the Seattle Storm, Lennox made her 200th career three-pointer. On February 6, 2008, Lennox was selected by the newly formed

in the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...

. During the 2008 season with the Dream, Lennox averaged a career-high 17.5 points per game and scored a career-high 44 points against the Connecticut Sun. She was the Eastern Conference leading point scorer for the year. She reached the 3,000 point and 1,000 rebound milestones in the 2008 season as well. Lennox was acquired by the

for the 2009 season as an unrestricted free agent to join forces with

Candace Parker Candace Nicole Parker (born April 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was selected as the first overall pick in the 2008 WNBA draft by the Los Ang ...

, Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson. Lennox helped lead the Sparks to the Western Conference finals where they were one win shy of advancing to the

2009 WNBA Finals The 2009 WNBA Finals was the championship series of the 2009 WNBA season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Indiana Fever, top-seeded champions of the Eastern Conference, faced the Phoenix Mercury, top-seeded champions of the We ...

, losing 2–1 to the Phoenix Mercury who ended up being the champions. During the 2010 season, a left knee injury would sideline Lennox while playing with the Sparks for the remainder of the season after playing only 11 games. Lennox signed with the

for the 2011 season, then waived before the start of the season, later re-signed for the remainder of the 2011 season, playing only 9 games. She would be sidelined for the later part of the season with a concussion. The 2011 season would be Lennox's last season in the WNBA before retiring. Lennox played a total of 12 seasons in the WNBA.

Overseas career

Lennox has played overseas for a total of 7 off-season years during her 12-year career with the WNBA. She has been known to play internationally during the off season with the WNBA, playing for many teams throughout the world. She played in Turkey in 2010 for Tarsus Belediyes. She played for

Nadezhda Orenburg PBK Nadezhda Orenburg (russian: ПБК «Надежда») is a Russian women's basketball club from Orenburg founded in 1994. Nadezhda has been 3rd in the Russian Premier League in 2010 and 2011, and reached the Russian Cup's final from 2011� ...

in Russia in 2008 & 2009 WNBA off-seasons. Earlier teams have included Coconuda Maddaloni in Italy for 2004–2005. She was in Poland with

Lotos Gdynia Arka Gdynia is a Polish professional women's basketball club. It was founded in 1946 in the city of Gdańsk as Spójnia Gdańsk. In 1992 the club moved from Gdańsk to Gdynia and changed the name to Bałtyk Gdynia. Then it changed its name severa ...

in 2006–2007. She had been with K.V. Imperial EKA AEL Limassol in Greece during 2007–2008. While in Poland in 2007 her team was the regular season runner-up, and a finalist. In Cyprus during 2007–2008 her team was the regular season champion in 2007 and as well as championship winners, and Cyprus Cup Winner in 2008. She was also Eurobasket.com's All-Russian superleague Honorable Mention in 2009. Additional teams and countries have included Israel for the 2000–2001 off-season for Elitzur Cellcom Holon. She also played for Beijing Great Wall in China during 2005–2006.

Philanthropy

Lennox started the Lennox Foundation 22 in 2005 to support children who were victims of neglect and abuse. The organization's mission is to give these children better experiences and the chance to succeed with support, education, and love. They learn self-motivation through playing basketball. She was presented with the WNBA's Community Assist Award in June 2006 for her charitable work.

Life after basketball

Since retiring from professional basketball, Lennox has been a basketball trainer for college students. She also travels nationwide to do motivational speaking and youth mentoring through her foundation. In March 2016, Lennox won the award for Woman of the Year at the 2016

Women of Distinction Awards The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

Personal life

Lennox is also a Christian who comes from a deeply religious background and had a bible verse inscribed on the toes of her shoes that she wore during games (Philippians 4:13) which she says is the scripture that tells all about her life journey.Betty Lennox proves a great fit for L.A. Sparks
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WNBA statistics

Regular season

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

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

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, 32 , , 31 , , 30.8 , , .427 , , .396 , , .800 , , 5.6 , , 2.6 , , 1.6 , , 0.2 , , 3.0 , , 16.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001 , style="text-align:left;",

, 11 , , 7 , , 21.9 , , .373 , , .385 , , .950 , , 4.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 2.2 , , 11.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002* , style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 1 , , 27.6 , , .208 , , .217 , , .600 , , 3.2 , , 3.2 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.0 , , 6.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002* , style="text-align:left;",

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, 26 , , 3 , , 22.3 , , .358 , , .351 , , .759 , , 2.8 , , 1.8 , , 0.9 , , 0.1 , , 2.3 , , 11.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002 , style="text-align:left;", Total , 31 , , 4 , , 24.9 , , .283 , , .284 , , .679 , , 3.0 , , 2.1 , , 0.9 , , 0.0 , , 3.2 , , 9.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003 , style="text-align:left;",

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, 34 , , 1 , , 16.5 , , .372 , , .311 , , .722 , , 2.6 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 0.1 , , 1.7, , 7.6 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2004^† , style="text-align:left;",

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, 32 , , 32 , , 28.8 , , .421 , , .265 , , .853 , , 5.0 , , 2.5 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.4 , , 11.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2005 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 26 , , 28.6 , , .392 , , .308 , , .874 , , 4.4 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , 0.1 , , 2.6 , , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 26.1 , , .452 , , .322 , , .761 , , 4.0 , , 2.1 , , 1.0 , , 0.1 , , 2.8 , , 13.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 27.6, , .428, , .343 , , .909 , , 4.7 , , 2.7 , , 1.0 , , 0.1 , , 2.6 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 34 , , 33, , 29.7 , , .415 , , .358 , , .855 , , 4.2 , , 2.4 , , 1.3 , , 0.0 , , 3.3 , , 17.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009 , style="text-align:left;",

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, 30 , , 13 , , 21.3, , .414 , , .301 , , .894 , , 4.5 , , 1.8 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 2.3 , , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2010 , style="text-align:left;",

, 11, , 0 , , 11.6, , .391 , , .361 , , .833 , , 1.7 , , 1.5 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 0.6 , , 4.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011 , style="text-align:left;",

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, 9 , , 0 , , 6.1, , .174 , , .235 , , .833 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 0.6 , , 1.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 12 years, 7 teams , 320, , 215, , 24.6, , .406, , .335, , .838, , 4.1, , 2.0, , 1.0, , 0.1, , 2.5, , 12.1

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2003 , style="text-align:left;",

, 3 , , 0 , , 15.0 , , .474 , , .400 , , .500 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , 1.0, , 0.0 , , 1.3 , , 7.0 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2004^† , style="text-align:left;",

, 8, , 8, , 31.4, , .454 , , .444 , , .875 , , 3.6 , , 2.6 , , 1.0 , , 0.1, , 2.8 , , 14.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2005 , style="text-align:left;",

, 3 , , 3 , , 31.3, , .395 , , .250 , , .929 , , 4.7, , 2.7, , 1.0, , 0.0, , 2.0, , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006 , style="text-align:left;",

, 3, , 3, , 30.0, , .295, , .263 , , .571, , 5.7, , 5.0, , 1.6, , 0.0, , 2.6, , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007 , style="text-align:left;",

, 2, , 2, , 31.0, , .361, , .385, , 1.000, , 6.5, , 2.0, , 1.0, , 0.0, , 2.0, , 18.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009 , style="text-align:left;",

, 6, , 0, , 21.3, , .414, , .440, , 1.000, , 3.0, , 1.5, , 0.8, , 0.0, , 1.8, , 12.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 6 years, 3 teams , 25, , 16, , 26.8, , .404, , .370, , .881, , 3.9, , 2.4, , 1.0, , 0.0, , 2.2, , 13.2

References

External links

*
Betty Lennox's Charity Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lennox, Betty 1976 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Poland American expatriate basketball people in Russia American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream players Basketball players from Oklahoma Beijing Great Wall players Cleveland Rockers players Los Angeles Sparks players Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball players Miami Sol players Minnesota Lynx draft picks Minnesota Lynx players Seattle Storm players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Oklahoma City Trinity Valley Cardinals women's basketball players Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars