Nicole Kristen Powell (born June 22, 1982) is an American basketball coach who is currently the head women's basketball coach at

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

. As a player, she had a standout collegiate career at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, Powell had an 11-year WNBA career most notably with the

Sacramento Monarchs The Sacramento Monarchs were a basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 until folding on November 20, 2009. They played their home games at ARCO Arena. The Mona ...

where she was an All-Star and won a WNBA Championship. Powell also played professionally overseas for Fenerbahçe Istanbul. Powell had previously served on the coaching staffs at Gonzaga, Oregon, and Grand Canyon before being named the head coach of UC Riverside in March 2020.

High school

Born in

Sierra Vista, Arizona Sierra Vista is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the population of the city is 45,308, and is the 27th most populous city in Arizona. The city is part of the Sierra Vista-Douglas Metropolitan Are ...

, Powell played for

Mountain Pointe High School Mountain Pointe High School is a secondary school located in Ahwatukee, Arizona one of eight public high schools serving the Tempe Union High School District. History The Ahwatukee area of Phoenix experienced explosive growth in the 1990s. The K ...

in Phoenix, where she was named a WBCA All-American. She also was named a 2000 Parade Magazine First Team All-American in 2000 and the Arizona Player of the Century by the Arizona Republic. She participated in the 2000 WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored fourteen points. In addition, Powell during her high school years earned all-region selection in both tennis and track, won the state badminton singles championships in 1997, 1999 and 2000, won the state discus title in 2000, and was an Arizona 5A doubles runner-up in tennis in 2000.

College

Powell played the

forward position Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

women's

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 ...

basketball team. During her tenure there, she broke many school records, was named an All-American three times, and won numerous awards. She majored in

urban studies Urban studies is based on the study of the urban development of cities. This includes studying the history of city development from an architectural point of view, to the impact of urban design on community development efforts. The core theoretica ...

. She was the first women's basketball player in the history of what is now the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

to have achieved multiple

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

games (that is, 10 totals or more in three different positive statistical categories) during the same season. Powell has since been joined by two other players:

Brittany Boyd Brittany Boyd-Jones ( Boyd; born June 11, 1993) is an American basketball free agent in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She previously played for the Chicago Sky. She played college basketball for the California Golden Bears. ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, who recorded two triple-doubles in the 2014–15 season, and

Sabrina Ionescu Sabrina Elaine Ionescu (born December 6, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks. She is the NCAA all- ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, who had multiple triple-doubles in all four of her college seasons (four in 2016–17, six in 2017–18, and eight in both 2018–19 and 2019–20). Powell and Ionescu are also the only NCAA Division I women's players to have recorded multiple triple-doubles in the NCAA tournament; Powell had two consecutive triple-doubles in 2002, while Ionescu had one each in 2018 and 2019.

Stanford statistics

Source

Coaching

Powell spent one season, 2013–14, at Gonzaga as an assistant coach for coach

Kelly Graves Kelly Lee Graves (born January 14, 1963) is the current head women's basketball coach at the University of Oregon. Previously, Graves was the head women's basketball coach at St. Mary's from 1997 to 2000, as well as Gonzaga University from 2000 to ...

. After Graves accepted the head coaching position for the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, Powell took the assistant coach position at Oregon for three years. The 2016–2017 season was the most successful under Powell's assistant coaching career; it included a top-five recruiting class in 2016, headlined by Ionescu; a run to the Elite 8 in the 2017 NCAA Tournament; winning 6 out of 23 games against Top 25 opponents; and finishing the season at #16. In April 2017, Powell accepted the head coaching position at Grand Canyon University.

WNBA career

Powell was picked No. 3 overall by the

Charlotte Sting The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization of ...

in the 2004 WNBA draft. She was used by the Sting as a utility player, appearing in 31 games. On March 3, 2005, she was traded to the

in a multi-player deal. The trade greatly aided the Monarchs in the 2005 season while Powell enjoyed a breakout year and eventually was named the recipient of that year's WNBA's Most Improved Player award. She played a pivotal role in the Monarchs' 2005

WNBA Finals The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

victory over the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

. Although the Monarchs struggled in subsequent years, Powell's statistics continued to improve. In 2009, with several of her teammates hobbled by injuries, Powell averaged 16.7 points per game and was the best free throw shooter in the WNBA with 97.9% of attempts made. She also participated in the 2009 WNBA All-Star Game, where she scored 21 points off the bench. The Monarchs ceased operations following their 2009 season. The New York Liberty selected Nicole Powell with the first pick in the ensuing dispersal draft. She was traded to the Tulsa Shock before the 2013 season and signed with the Seattle Storm before the 2014 season.

USA Basketball

Powell was a member of the USA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in

Mar Del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The event was held in July 2000, when the USA team defeated Cuba to win the championship. Powell averaged 8.2 points per game and led the team in rebounding with 6.4 per game. Powell was named to the USA Women's U19 team which represented the US in the 2001 U19 World's Championship, held in

Brno, Czech Republic Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

in July 2001. Powell scored 7.0 points per game, led the team in rebounding with 6.3 per game to help the USA team to a 6–1 record and the bronze medal. In 2003, Powell helped the United States women's national basketball team win a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

. She also helped national teams win a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

(in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

) and a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

(in

) at two other international tournaments.

International career

During the 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 WNBA off-season, Powell contributed to Fenerbahçe's victories each year in the Turkish women's basketball league championship. In 2007–2008 she played for CSKA Moscow in Russia, in 2006–2007 for Perfumerias Halcon Avenida in Spain, in 2005–2006 for Fenerbahçe for the first time, also winning the country's championship, and 2004–2005 Basket Spezia in Italy. Now Powell is a player of Polish team – TS Wisła Kraków.

Awards and achievements

* 2009 WNBA All-Star Selection * 2005 WNBA Most Improved Player

Head coaching record

References

External links

Stanford University player profile
*

* ttp://www.wnba.com/monarchs/news/Nicole_Powell_Homecoming.html Reprinted September 29, 2006 ''Arizona Republic'' article on being named grand marshal at her high school {{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Nicole 1982 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Arizona Basketball players at the 2003 Pan American Games Basketball players from Arizona Charlotte Sting players Fenerbahçe women's basketball players Gonzaga Bulldogs women's basketball coaches Grand Canyon Antelopes women's basketball coaches New York Liberty players Oregon Ducks women's basketball coaches Pan American Games medalists in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States People from Sierra Vista, Arizona Power forwards (basketball) Sacramento Monarchs players Seattle Storm players Stanford Cardinal women's basketball players Tulsa Shock players UC Riverside Highlanders women's basketball coaches Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games