Janice Faye Lawrence Braxton (born June 7, 1962) is an American professional

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 ...

player. She was born in

Lucedale, Mississippi Lucedale () is a city in George County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lucedale was founded in 1901 when Governor A.H. Longino signed his name and his seal to the proclamation. ...

. Braxton was inducted into the

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's bask ...

in 2006.

College

Braxton played college basketball for

Louisiana Tech 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 activi ...

, where she helped lead the Lady Techsters to national championships in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. While only a sophomore in 1982, she was the leading scorer in the NCAA tournament, and was named the tournament MVP. Braxton won the

WBCA Player of the Year The Women's Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year award is presented annually to the best women's college basketball players in NCAA Division II and Division III as voted by the WBCA membership. From 1983 to 2000, the award was also give ...

award in 1984.

Louisiana Tech statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Braxton was a member of the 1983 Pan American team that won a gold medal in Venezuela. Braxton was a member of the USA National team at the 1983 World Championships, held in

Sao Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

. The team won six games, but lost two against the Soviet Union. In an opening round game, the USA team had a nine-point lead at halftime, but the Soviets came back to take the lead, and a final shot by the USA failed to drop, leaving the USSR team with a one-point victory 85–84. The USA team won their next four games, setting up the gold medal game against USSR. This game was also close, and was tied at 82 points each with six seconds to go in the game. Elena Chausova of the Soviet Union received the inbounds pass and hit the game winning shot in the final seconds, giving the USSR team the gold medal with a score of 84–82. The USA team earned the silver medal. Braxton averaged 8.9 points per game. In 1984, the USA sent its National team to the 1984

William Jones Cup The R. William Jones Cup (), also known as the Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in Taiwan. It was named in honor of basketball promoter ...

competition in

Taipei, Taiwan Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

, for pre-Olympic practice. The team easily beat each of the eight teams they played, winning by an average of just under 50 points per game. Braxton averaged 6.7 points per game. She won a gold medal with the USA Women's Olympic basketball team in 1984. She was inducted into the

Louisiana Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame The Louisiana Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 1984 to honor student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and benefactors who have been highly successful at Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tec ...

in 1987. In 2006, Braxton was elected to the

, located in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

Professional career

Braxton played for the New York team in the

Women's American Basketball Association The Women's American Basketball Association (WABA) is a league that began in 2017 with seven teams. It now has over 20 teams across the country. Season 4 was cancelled in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. There have been previous women's ...

, a short-lived league in the mid-80's (not to be confused with WABA a league of the same name existing in 2002). Braxton played 13 seasons in Europe with Vicenza, Messina and Parma in Italian League. The Vicenza team won four European Champions Cup while Braxton played for the team, scoring almost 23 points per game. She earned All-Star honors in 1997. She spent three seasons playing for 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 ...

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). 1997–1999:

In 2003, she joined the

as an assistant coach.

Awards and honors

* 1982—NCAA Tournament MVP * 1983—Kodak All-America * 1984—Kodak All-America * 1984—Wade Trophy

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;",

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. ...

, 25 , , 24 , , 32.9 , , .417 , , .500 , , .768 , , 7.6 , , 2.0 , , 1.4 , , 1.1 , , 2.1 , , 11.5 , - , 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;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 28.0 , , .495 , , .333 , , .755 , , 5.6 , , 2.5 , , 1.7 , , 0.5 , , 2.2 , , 9.8 , - , 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;",

, 26 , , 21 , , 18.3 , , .460 , , .125 , , .697 , , 4.3 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 1.3 , , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 3 years, 1 team , 81 , , 75 , , 26.4 , , .458 , , .333 , , .748 , , 5.8 , , 1.9 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 1.9 , , 9.0

Playoffs

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

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

, 3 , , 3 , , 27.7 , , .385 , , .000 , , .857 , , 6.3 , , 2.0 , , 0.7 , , 0.0 , , 2.3 , , 10.7

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Braxton, Janice Lawrence 1962 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Mississippi Cleveland Rockers players Forwards (basketball) Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball players Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) People from Lucedale, Mississippi Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people United States women's national basketball team players