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. 20130403 Mercedes Russell MCDAAG Girls MVP

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 ...

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 ,

, colspan="12", ''Injured'' , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , 31 , 29.3 , .548 , .000 , .545 , 8.3 , 0.8 , 0.4 , 1.8 , 1.6 , 9.9 , - , 2016–17 ,

, 32 , 32 , 34.6 , .562 , .000 , .671 , 9.7 , 1.2 , 0.7 , 1.4 , 2.0 , 16.1 , - , 2017–18 ,

, 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" ,

, 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" ,

, 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;",

, 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" ,

, 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" ,

, align="left" ,

, 1 , , 0 , , 4.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

, 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;",

^† , style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 0 , , 17.5 , , .619 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 3.8 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 0.8, , 5.2 , - , style='text-align:left;',

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

, 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