Courtney Monae Williams (born May 11, 1994) is an American 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 for the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded pr ...

of 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). Williams completed her high school basketball career at

Charlton County High School Charlton County High School is a public high school located in Folkston, Georgia, United States. The school is part of the Charlton County School District, which serves Charlton County. Athletics Charlton County has won four state championships ...

. She signed with the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

and enrolled at the school in the fall of 2012.

High school career

She played basketball for the Indians at

. Her mother Michelle Williams (then Michelle Granger) also played basketball for the same high school 22 years earlier. Michelle set the single-game scoring record when she scored 40 points. In her junior season, Williams took over the record by scoring 42 points in a game.

Collegiate career

Freshman

Williams was a solid role player coming off the bench in her first season with the South Florida Bulls. she appeared in every game and started in 3. She averaged 7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and .88 assists over 33 games.

Sophomore

In Williams sophomore year she averaged 30.4 minutes a game compared to her 15.3 coming off the bench the season before. She finished the year with 16.3 points a game along with 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists. She was named All-Conference First team and was an Honorable Mention for the All-American team.

Junior

She was a starter in every game and averaged 20.3 points per game which led the AAC. Overall she was the ninth leading scorer in the country with 20 or more points in 20 different games. During one stretch of 10 game she scored over 20 points in each game which is the longest streak in the nation at the time.

Senior

In her senior year Williams hit 308 field goals which was second in the nation among all Division I teams. She scored 763 points which was eighth best among all Division I players. Williams was inducted into the University of South Florida Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 and her number 10 jersey is retired by the team.

South Florida statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Williams was selected as one of 12 players to play for the US at the

2015 World University games ) , Nations participating = 143 , Athletes participating = 12,885 , Events = 272 in 21 sports , Opening ceremony = , Closing ceremony = , Officially opened by = Park Geun-hye , Athlete's Oath = Kim Seong-yeon and Kim Kuk-young , Judge's Oath = K ...

, held in

Gwangju, South Korea Gwangju () is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the ...

in July 2015. The USA team opened with a win over Italy. In the second game against China, Williams was the leading scorer with 18 points. The USA team won the next two points to earn a berth in the semifinal against Japan. The USA team was down by 15 points, but came back to tie the game up and send the game into overtime. The teams matched scores in the first overtime and went into double overtime for the first time in World University Games history. With 10 seconds left in the second overtime, Japan cut the lead to two points but Williams hit two free throws to secure the victory. Williams recorded a double double, scoring 17 points and securing 10 rebounds. The gold-medal game was against Canada. The USA won the gold-medal 82–63 with Williams again contributing a double double, with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Professional career

WNBA

Phoenix Mercury

Williams was selected as the eighth overall pick by 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 ...

in the 2016 WNBA draft. She was surprised by the selection since she didn't have many pre draft discussions with the Mercury. Williams has identified

Diana Taurasi Diana Lorena Taurasi (born June 11, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted by Phoenix first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft. Taurasi has w ...

as a player who “I look up to and who I compare my mentality to”, and now she will be playing on the same team as Taurasi. After appearing in a handful of games for the Mercury, Williams was traded to the Connecticut Sun on June 26, 2016.

Connecticut Sun (2016-2019)

Williams helped the Sun reach the WNBA Finals during the 2019 season, before they ultimately lost to 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 ...

. During the 2019 season, Williams was also honored by the league with a Player of the Week nod.

Atlanta Dream

On February 19, 2020, Williams was traded to the

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 ...

as part of a three-team trade. In October 2021, Williams (along with teammate Crystal Bradford) was released from her contract after a video of them circulated through various media outlets of their involvement in a fight outside of an Atlanta area

food truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van) or trailer, equipped to cook, prepare, serve, and/or sell food. Some, including ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food; others have on-board kitchens and prepare food from scratc ...

Connecticut Sun (2022)

The Connecticut Sun re-signed Williams for the 2022 WNBA season.

Chicago Sky

On February 4, 2023, the Chicago Sky announced the signing of Williams. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, per team policy.

Minnesota Lynx

On January 31, 2024, Williams signed a two-year guaranteed deal with the

. In the June 14, 2024, Lynx home game against the Sparks, Williams became only the 4th WNBA player to have 15+ points, 10+ assists, 8+ rebounds, and 4+ steals.

WNBL

On August 10, 2017, Williams signed with the Perth Lynx for the

2017–18 WNBL season The 2017–18 WNBL season was the 38th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The regular season began on 5 October 2017, with the Melbourne Boomers visiting the Dandenong Rangers. The Sydney Uni Flames were the defending champ ...

. Williams was named to the WNBL Team of the Week on 14 November 2017, after a 26-point performance against the University of Canberra Capitals. The following week, Williams was named WNBL Player of the Week, after tallying 37 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists across a pair of victories. Williams was a key contributor in the Perth Lynx's historic 14 game winning streak, resulting in the team finishing the regular season on top of the ladder. Williams finished the WNBL regular season averaging 21.7 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.1 APG, 2.25 STPG and 0.9 BLKPG.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

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2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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, 34 , , 28 , , 26.0 , , .473 , , .324 , , .878 , , 4.2 , , 2.1 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 1.4 , , 12.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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, 30 , , 29 , , 27.1 , , .456 , , .377 , , .680 , , 5.9 , , 3.0 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 1.8 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

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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 ...

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, 32 , , 32 , , 34.4 , , .418 , , .382 , , .642 , , 6.8 , , 4.0 , , 1.1 , , 0.5 , , 1.8 , , 16.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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, 34 , , 34 , , 27.9 , , .426 , , .338 , , .750 , , 4.6 , , 3.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 1.7 , , 11.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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Postseason

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Awards and honors

* 2014—

AAC AAC may refer to: Aviation * Advanced Aircraft, a company from Carlsbad, California * Alaskan Air Command, a radar network * American Aeronautical Corporation, a company from Port Washington, New York * American Aviation, a company from Cleveland, ...

First team * 2014–15 added to watchlist for the

Wooden Award The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The program consists of the men's and women's Player of the Year awards, the Legends of Coaching award, and recognizing the ...

Dawn Staley award The Dawn Staley Award was established in 2013 to "recognize the nation’s best guard in Women’s Division I college basketball". It was established by the Phoenix club of Philadelphia, an organization established to recognize the achievements of ...

, the Naismith Trophy, and the

Wade Trophy The Wade Trophy is an award presented annually to the best upperclass women's basketball player in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after three–time national champion Delta State University coac ...

* 2015—AP All-America honorable mention * 2016—

First team (unanimous) * 2016—AAC Scholar-Athlete

Personal

Williams is the daughter of Michele and Donald Williams, and has one sister, Doniece.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Courtney 1994 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream players Basketball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Chicago Sky players Connecticut Sun players Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players LGBT basketball players LGBT people from Georgia (U.S. state) American lesbian sportswomen Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Minnesota Lynx players Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in basketball People from Charlton County, Georgia Phoenix Mercury draft picks Phoenix Mercury players Point guards South Florida Bulls women's basketball players United States women's national basketball team players WNBA All-Stars