Rhyne Howard (born April 29, 2000) 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

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...

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 played college basketball for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

. She graduated from

Bradley Central High School Bradley Central High School is a public high school located in Cleveland, Tennessee that serves approximately 1,700 students from grades 9-12. It was founded in 1916, and is part of the Bradley County Schools system. The school maintains a crosst ...

located in

Cleveland, Tennessee Cleveland is the county seat of and largest city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 47,356 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Cleveland metropolitan area, Tennessee (consisting of Bradley and neigh ...

in 2018. She was drafted first overall by the Dream in the 2022 WNBA draft. In her senior year of high school at Bradley Central located in Tennessee, she was named 2018 Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year and Tennessee Miss Basketball. Howard participated on the USA team in 2018 and 2019, leading them to a gold medal and was awarded MVP honors in 2018. She participated in the Jordan Brand Classic among the top rated recruits in the U.S. Following her freshman season at Kentucky, Howard was named USBWA National Freshman of the Year. In 2020 and 2021, she was named

SEC Player of the Year Southeastern Conference Player of the Year refers to the most outstanding player for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in a given sport for a given season. For lists of individual sport SEC Players of the Year by year: *Southeastern Conference Bas ...

College career

Howard notched SEC player of the year in 2020 and 2021, her sophomore and junior years at UK. She also earned All-SEC defensive team and All-SEC first team honors in 2021. In her freshman year, she earned the honors of All-SEC first team and SEC freshman of the year. Entering the Wildcats' 2021 postseason, Howard is the only player in the nation averaging 19 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game, while snatching 40 steals and 70 assists. On January 27, 2022, Howard scored her 2,000th point in her college career, becoming the third Wildcat to reach that benchmark.

Career statistics

College

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Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

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, 27 , , 27 , , 31.2 , , .433 , , .382 , , .791 , , 6.5 , , 2.4 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , 2.2 , , 23.4 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

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, 31 , , 31 , , 35.3 , , .441 , , .383 , , .808 , , 7.4 , , 3.3 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , , 1.8 , , 20.5 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 114 , , 113 , , 33.0 , , .440 , , .382 , , .772 , , 6.9 , , 2.9 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , 2.2 , , 20.1

Professional career

On April 11, 2022, Howard was drafted first overall by the

in the 2022 WNBA draft. During her rookie year Rhyne started every game and averaged 16.8 points, 2.8 assists, and 1.6 steals. Howard was announced to her first All-star game in July. She went on to earn Rookie of the month honors every month from May to August. Howard would later be announced as the

WNBA Rookie of the Year The Women's National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the 1998 WNBA season, to the top rookie of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel ...

for 2022.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

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Personal life

Howard is a member of

Zeta Phi Beta Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic achie ...

sorority She was initiated through the Iota Mu chapter at the University of Kentucky.seniorclassaward.com
/ref> She has a girlfriend.

References

External links

*
Kentucky Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Rhyne 2000 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players Atlanta Dream draft picks Atlanta Dream players American women's basketball players Basketball players from Tennessee Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans People from Cleveland, Tennessee Shooting guards Sportspeople from Chattanooga, Tennessee United States women's national basketball team players Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars Women's National Basketball Association first-overall draft picks