Mercedes Brianna Russell (born July 27, 1995) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
player for the
Seattle Storm 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). She was drafted 22nd overall by the
New York Liberty in the
2018 WNBA draft. Russell played
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
for the
Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball
The Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team represents the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA women's basketball competition. The team has been a contender for national titles for over thirty years, having made every NCAA ...
team in college. In high school, she was named 2013
Gatorade Girls' Basketball Player of the Year.
College
Russell played college basketball at the
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...
in
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of 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 Division and the state' ...
for the
Lady Volunteers.
Statistics
, -
,
2013–14
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, 35
, 5
, 18.5
, .596
, .000
, .514
, 5.0
, 0.5
, 0.4
, 1.1
, 1.2
, 6.3
, -
,
2014–15
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, colspan="12", ''Injured''
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
2015–16
, style="text-align:left;",
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, 36
, 31
, 29.3
, .548
, .000
, .545
, 8.3
, 0.8
, 0.4
, 1.8
, 1.6
, 9.9
, -
,
2016–17
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, 32
, 32
, 34.6
, .562
, .000
, .671
, 9.7
, 1.2
, 0.7
, 1.4
, 2.0
, 16.1
, -
,
2017–18
,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, 33
, 33
, 32.7
, .583
, .000
, .682
, 9.2
, 0.8
, 1.1
, 1.3
, 1.4
, 15.3
, -
, Career
,
, 136
, 101
, 28.6
, .570
, .000
, .622
, 8.0
, 0.8
, 0.6
, 1.4
, 1.6
, 11.7
Career
WNBA
At the
2018 WNBA Draft, Russell was drafted in the second round by the
New York Liberty. After making her WNBA debut with the Liberty, Russell was waived and soon after picked up by the
Seattle Storm. In joining the Storm's line-up featuring players such as
Sue Bird,
Breanna Stewart
Breanna Mackenzie Stewart (born Baldwin; born August 27, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
In high school, Stewart was the National Gatorade Player o ...
and
Natasha Howard, Russell would take home a WNBA Championship in her first professional season.
WNBL
In 2019, Russell was signed by the newly rebranded
Southside Flyers in Australia's
Women's National Basketball League (WNBL).
There she would play alongside the likes of
Leilani Mitchell
Leilani Seamah Mitchell (born June 15, 1985) is an American-Australian professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. Mitchell was drafted 25th overall by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2008 WNBA draft. A dual citizen of the United Sta ...
and
Jenna O'Hea
Jenna O'Hea (born 6 June 1987) is an Australian professional basketball player who currently plays for the Southside Flyers in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). O'Hea is also currently the captain of Australia's national team, th ...
.
Career statistics
WNBA
Regular season
, -
, 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 Unit ...
, align="left" ,
New York
, 2 , , 0 , , 16.0 , , .333 , , .000 , , .750 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 2.5
, -
, 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 Unit ...
, 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 ...
, 22 , , 0 , , 4.6 , , .484 , , .000 , , .500 , , 1.4 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 1.6
, -
, 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 ...
, 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 ...
, 34 , , 30 , , 25.6 , , .520 , , .000 , , .646 , , 6.1 , , 1.0 , , 1.1 , , 0.5 , , 1.0 , , 7.5
, -
, style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
†
, 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 ...
, 22 , , 2 , , 13.8 , , .410 , , .000 , , .560 , , 3.2 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 0.7 , , 3.5
, -
, align="left" ,
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
, 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 ...
, 30 , , 28 , , 24.7 , , .617 , , .000 , , .766 , , 6.1 , , 1.6 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 1.3 , , 7.3
, -
, align="left" , Career
, align="left" , 4 years, 2 teams
, 110 , , 60 , , 18.6 , , .529 , , .000 , , .662 , , 4.5 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 0.9 , , 5.4
Postseason
, -
, 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 Unit ...
, 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 ...
, 1 , , 0 , , 4.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0
, -
, 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 ...
, 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 ...
, 2 , , 2 , , 32.0 , , .769 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 8.5 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 11.5
, -
, style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
†
, 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 ...
, 6 , , 0 , , 17.5 , , .619 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 3.8 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 0.8, , 5.2
, -
, style='text-align:left;',
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
, 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 ...
, 1 , , 1 , , 45.0 , , .556 , , .000 , , .000 , , 12.0 , , 4.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 10.0
, -
, align="left" , Career
, align="left" , 4 years, 1 team
, 10 , , 3 , , 21.8 , , .651 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 5.3 , , 1.4 , , 0.1 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 6.4
References
External links
Tennessee Lady Vols bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Mercedes
1995 births
Living people
American expatriate basketball people in Australia
American expatriate basketball people in Turkey
American women's basketball players
Basketball players from Oregon
Centers (basketball)
Galatasaray S.K. (women's basketball) players
McDonald's High School All-Americans
New York Liberty draft picks
New York Liberty players
Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball)
People from Springfield, Oregon
Seattle Storm players
Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball players