Merlakia Jones (born June 21, 1973) is a former American college 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 who was a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

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) for eight seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Jones played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, and then played professionally 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 ...

and

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. ...

of the WNBA.

Early years

Jones was born to George and Jacqueline Jones in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. She attended

George Washington Carver George Washington Carver ( 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the ea ...

in Montgomery, and was a standout high school basketball player for the G.W. Carver Wolverines.

College career

Jones accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where she played for coach

Carol Ross Carol Ross (born June 11, 1959) is an American college and professional basketball coach. Ross has served as the head women's basketball coach for the University of Florida and the University of Mississippi, and also as the head coach of the Los ...

Florida Gators women's basketball The Florida Gators women's basketball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of basketball. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gator ...

team from 1991 to 1995.

Florida statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Jones represented the US at the 1995 World University Games held in

Fukuoka, Japan is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

, in August and September 1995. The team had a record of 5–1, securing the silver medal. The USA teams won early and reached a record of 5–0 when the USA beat Yugoslavia. In the semi-final game, the USA faced Russia. The team was behind much of the first half but managed to tie the game at the half. The USA broke the game open in the second half and won 101–74, with Frett contributing a double-double, 20 points and 13 rebounds. The gold medal match was against unbeaten Italy. The Italian team started strong, scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the contest. The USA took a small lead in the second half, but the team from Italy responded with a ten-point run, and won the game and the gold medal by a score of 73–65. Jones averaged 2.3 points per game.

Professional career

The Cleveland Rockers selected Jones in the second round (thirteenth pick overall) of the

1997 WNBA draft The 1997 WNBA draft was the inaugural draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were thr ...

. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997, in a 56–76 loss to the

Houston Comets The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...

where she recorded 8 points,2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block. Jones would go on to play for the Rockers for seven seasons (1997 - 2003) and made the All-Star team in three of those seasons (1999, 2000 and 2001). For the 1999 season, Jones was a bright spot on the Rockers' dark season, as the team finished 7 - 25 (which at the time became the 2nd worst W/L record in WNBA history) with Jones averaging 10.8 points and 3.8 rebounds. Jones and the Rockers made the playoffs four times during Jones' tenure (1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003) but failed to reach the WNBA Finals all four times. Interestingly, she was also the only player to play for the Rockers throughout the team's existence. The Rockers franchise folded in 2003 due to lack of new ownership and Jones played for them every season from their inaugural season to their final season. In January 2004, the WNBA hosted a Dispersal Draft where every player that had a remaining contract with the Rockers would be drafted to a different team. Jones was not eligible to be drafted since she was an unrestricted free agent at the time, and she would sign with the

on February 17, 2004. With the Shock, Jones played in 33 games and averaged 5.5 points and 2.1 rebounds. The team reached the playoffs with a 17–17 record, but were eliminated in the first round by the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

(2-1). This season with the Shock ended up being Jones last days in the NBA and Game 3 of that first round series against the Liberty was the final game of her career. That game was played on September 28, 2004, and although Jones produced a strong 13 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, the Shock lost the game 64 - 66. Jones finished her WNBA career with 251 games played (141 starts) and averaged 9.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists. She was named by

SB Nation ''SB Nation'' (an abbreviation for their full name ''SportsBlogs Nation'') is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Bleszinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2005. The blog from which the network ...

as the best #13 pick in WNBA history, and currently still has the most career points scored of any player drafted at that pick (2,353 career points).https://www.swishappeal.com/wnba/2020/6/12/21287399/wnba-best-no-13-pick-history-merlakia-jones-rita-williams-jessica-breland-kylee-shook-alex-bentley

References

External links

Merlakia Jones
– Official WNBA player profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Merlakia 1973 births Living people American women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Portugal Basketball players from Montgomery, Alabama Cleveland Rockers players Detroit Shock players Florida Gators women's basketball players Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars Universiade silver medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in basketball Guards (basketball) United States women's national basketball team players