Cass Bauer-Bilodeau (born Cassandra Sue Bauer on June 27, 1972) is an American former collegiate and professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.

Basketball career

A native of

Hysham, Montana Hysham is a town in and the county seat of Treasure County, Montana, United States. The population was 276 at the 2020 census. Geography Hysham is located at (46.290535, -107.229929). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a ...

, she graduated in 1994 from

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

, where she played for their basketball team, nicknamed ''The Bobcats'', and earned a degree in

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

. She led the Bobcats to their first championship in the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

. She began her professional career in 1996 with the

Columbus Quest The Columbus Quest was a professional women's basketball franchise located in Columbus, Ohio in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). They were one of the league's original eight teams that started play in 1996. In the league's b ...

in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). She became the ABL's all-time

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

percentage leader, making 147 out of 168 free throws for an average of 87 percent. After the ABL folded due to financial difficulties, she joined 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) from 1999 to 2002, playing for the

Charlotte Sting The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization of ...

, the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded pri ...

, and the

Sacramento Monarchs The Sacramento Monarchs were a 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 Arena. The Mona ...

. Citing pain in her right knee, she announced her retirement shortly before the 2003 season.

Personal life

In 2000, she married her longtime boyfriend,

Brent Bilodeau Brent Bilodeau (born March 23, 1973) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He was drafted in the first round (17th overall) of the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens while a member of the Seattle Thunderbirds of t ...

, an American/Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player who was playing in the

East Coast Hockey League The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

. She subsequently moved with her family to

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and worked as a critical care and

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

References

External links

WNBA Player ProfileDecember 26, 2005 ''Bozeman Daily Chronicle'' article
1972 births Living people American women's basketball players Basketball players from Montana Charlotte Sting players Columbus Quest players Long Beach Stingrays players Montana State Bobcats women's basketball players People from Hysham, Montana Philadelphia Rage players Sacramento Monarchs players Small forwards Washington Mystics players {{US-women-basketball-bio-stub