Natasha Cloud (born February 22, 1992) 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

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 ...

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).

High school

Natasha Cloud gained recognition while being named AAAA First Team All-State as a senior. During this season she averaged 12.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 4.0 steals per game. She led Cardinal O'Hara to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AAAA state finals two years in a row, as a junior and then to the second round as a senior. Both her junior and senior year she earned First Team All-Delco honors. As a junior, earned a Pennsylvania AAAA Third Team All-State selection. Earned the Michael Menichini Award in 2009.

College

University of Maryland

2010–2011: Following a very successful high school career, Natasha Cloud, received a scholarship to play at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

as a Terp. Cloud saw action in 31 of 32 games of her freshman year, and of those started games four through nine. Her freshman year she led the team in assists twice and in blocks three times while also being named a teams Scholar Athlete. Her coach,

Brenda Frese Brenda Sue Frese (born April 30, 1970) is an American women's basketball head coach and former player. Since 2002, she has served as the head coach of the University of Maryland women's basketball team. In her fourth year as head coach, she won the ...

, stated that:

Natasha is a very athletic and unselfish player who will do whatever her team needs to help us win. She's a strong defensive player, who can play either guard spot and is a terrific passer. Natasha has a ton of personality, is a good student and fits right in with our team.

Saint Joseph's University

2011–2012: Due to

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

transfer rules, Cloud sat out the 2011–2012 season, after transferring from Maryland. She was honored as member of the SJU Director's Honor Roll this season. 2012–2013: Cloud earned Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, along with earning a spot on the A10 all defensive team. In preseason, Cloud was named A10 Preseason All-Conference Second Team and Preseason All-Defensive Team. With an impressive All- Big 5 First Team, Cloud was also named

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

All-Conference Second Team. Earned SJU's Best Defensive Player Award and was twice named A10 Player of the Week and one time Big 5 Player of the week. Cloud was named to the

Nancy Lieberman Award The Nancy Lieberman Award, named for Basketball Hall of Fame legend Nancy Lieberman, was given annually by the Rotary Club of Detroit in the Award's first 14 years to the nation's top collegiate point guard in women's Division I basketball. Sue Bi ...

Watch List for the top point guard in the nation. Cloud was named Co-Captain to the team. Ranked second nationally in assists per game (7.6), also set the SJU single-season record for assists (243). Averaged 11.5 points and (team best) 6.6 rebounds per game. Led the A10 in assists and assists to turnover ratio. Scored 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, two blocked shots and 2 steals in NCAA First Round win over Georgia. She had 6 assists and added 10 points, a blocked shot and a steal in NCAA Second Round game against Connecticut, who ended up winning the National Championship. 2014–2015: Cloud averaged 12.9 points a game and led the Atlantic 10 in averaged minutes (37.6). Cloud was named Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team and All- Defensive Team selection. Cloud was a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List and Naismith Trophy Watch List nominee. Named Big 5 Player of the Week three times. Cloud was named Hawk Classic All-Tournament Team member and

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

Thanksgiving Invitational All-Tournament team honoree. Cloud was also Preseason A10 All-Conference First Team and All-Defensive Team selection. With an impressive 187 assists, Cloud led the A10 in assists in a single season and finished her career with 163 rebounds and 50 steals. Cloud also finished with 26 three-pointers, a career best. Scored career-high 29 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot at

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

Maryland and Saint Joseph's statistics

Source

Professional career

WNBA

Cloud was drafted in the 2015 WNBA draft, second round, 15th overall. Cloud was drafted to play for the

under Coach

Mike Thibault Michael Francis Thibault (born September 28, 1950) is an American basketball head coach, formerly of the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA, and now of the Washington Mystics. In 2013, Thibault became the WNBA's all time most successful coach with 212 vi ...

. During Cloud's 2015 Rookie season, she averaged 3.6 points per game finishing the season with a total of 123. Just as a rookie, Cloud started in a handful of their season games and played a total of 657 minutes, averaging 19.3 minutes per game. Cloud averaged 2.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists per game. Cloud scored 11 points in an 84–67 win against San Antonio Stars on June 29, 2016. However, the Mystics have been inconsistent in the 2016 season. She suffered a left hip injury during practice at the Verizon Center. On October 10, 2019, Cloud won her first WNBA championship. In June 2020, Cloud announced that she would forgo the 2020 WNBA season due to concerns of racism and the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

She wanted to be on the front lines and focus on social reform.

Beskitas CT

Cloud played in

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

for an organization called Besiktas CT Istanbul. Cloud was involved with the organization for a few months (participating in a handful of games) before getting hurt and returning to the United States to get healthy for the 2016 WNBA season.

WNBA Statistics

Regular season

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Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

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, 31 , , 28 , , 24.3 , , .348 , , .338 , , .754 , , 3.0 , , 3.8 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 1.4 , , 5.7 , - , align="left" ,

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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, 24 , , 0 , , 18.7 , , .314 , , .235 , , .741 , , 2.5 , , 2.9 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 1.0 , , 4.4 , - , 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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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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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 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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, 27 , , 27 , , 31.6 , , .389 , , .274 , , .836 , , 3.6 , , 6.4 , , 1.4 , , 0.1 , , 2.2 , , 8.7 , - , 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 , , 31.3 , , .399 , , .319 , , .824 , , 3.6 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 7.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 2.8 , , 10.7 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 7 years, 1 team , 211 , , 167 , , 26.5 , , .382 , , .313 , , .764 , , 3.0 , , 4.9 , , 0.9 , , 0.2 , , 1.8 , , 7.3

Postseason

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, 9 , , 9 , , 34.2 , , .442 , , .378 , , .850 , , 3.4 , , 6.2 , , 1.1 , , 0.2 , , 1.3 , , 13.1 , - , align="left" ,

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Personal life

Cloud is married to professional

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

player

Aleshia Ocasio Aleshia Ocasio (born August 15, 1996) is a professional American softball player. She played college softball at Florida. Ocasio most recently played in the Athletes Unlimited Softball, where she won the 2021 championship as the top individual poi ...

References

External links

Natasha Cloud - WNBASt. Joseph's bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloud, Natasha 1992 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American women's basketball players Basketball players from Pennsylvania Beşiktaş women's basketball players Guards (basketball) LGBT basketball players LGBT people from Pennsylvania Lesbian sportswomen Maryland Terrapins women's basketball players People from Marple Township, Pennsylvania Saint Joseph's Hawks women's basketball players Washington Mystics draft picks Washington Mystics players