Tully Louise Bevilaqua (née Crook on 19 July 1972) is an Australian professional

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

player. She formerly played for the San Antonio Stars in the WNBA and the

Perth Lynx The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, t ...

in Australia's WNBL. The 5'7" Bevilaqua's play style is energetic and disruptive, so much so that she is usually in the top 10 in steals. In the 2005 regular season, she had more steals per turnover than any other player.

WNBA career

Bevilaqua was not drafted by a WNBA team, but was signed by 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 ...

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

before the 1998 season began. She played only 12 regular-season games for them before being waived by the team in July 1998. In 2000, she signed a free agent contract with the

Portland Fire The Portland Fire were a professional basketball team in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) based in Portland, Oregon that joined the league in 2000 as the counterpart to the National Basketball Association, NBA’s Portland Trail B ...

and played with them for three seasons until the franchise folded after the 2002 season. In 2003, she signed another contract with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

, and played two seasons for them, capping the 2004 season when the Storm won the

WNBA Championship 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 ...

, defeating 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 ...

, two games to one. In 2005, she signed with the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

, and led them to a #2 seed in the playoffs, where they swept 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 ...

in two games, but in turn were swept by the

in the Eastern Conference Finals. Despite Bevilaqua's WNBA success, she failed to make the Australian national team until 2006 at the age of 34, when she helped lead the Opals to the gold medal in the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women. On 27 August 2007, Bevilaqua played a key scoring, defensive, and leadership role in the greatest comeback in WNBA history when the Indiana Fever overcame a 22-point first half deficit to win the deciding game three of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Connecticut Sun. Later that week on 31 August 2007 Tully was awarded the

Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award The Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season, to the player who most "exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court—ethical behavior, fair ...

from the WNBA. The WNBA listed Bevilaqua's height at 5'7" (about 170 cm), though she was listed at only 164 cm (about 5'4.5") in the WNBL. Bevilaqua is one of only four WNBA players to record at least 800 career assists and 500 career steals.

2004 Championship season

One of the highlights of Bevilaqua's career was her participation on the 2004

championship team. In the championship series, the

won the first game of a three-game series. Then, before sold-out crowds at Seattle's KeyArena, Bevilaqua and the Storm won the second and third games to take the crown as champion. Bevilaqua's role in the series was backup point guard to Sue Bird and Betty Lennox, but she contributed in every phase of the game—scoring, rebounding, and playing the tenacious defense that has become her trademark on the

. Though listed as a backup guard, in the course of the Storm's 2004 championship run Bevilaqua played unusually long minutes. This was most evident in the second game against the Minnesota Lynx. Sue Bird was injured early in the game, and WNBA Finals MVP Betty Lennox quickly got into foul trouble. Storm coach Anne Donovan sent Bevilaqua in to run the offense, and she played 27 minutes to carry the team to victory. The Seattle crowd chanted her name repeatedly during the game.

Personal life

Bevilaqua was born in

Merredin, Western Australia Merredin is a town in Western Australia, located in the central Wheatbelt roughly midway between Perth and Kalgoorlie, on Route 94, Great Eastern Highway. It is located on the route of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, and as a result is als ...

in 1972. She played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

as a youth. Her hobbies include karaoke singing,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

ing,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, and reading

Patricia Cornwell Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels; June 9, 1956) is an American crime writer. She is known for her best-selling novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, of which the first was inspired by a series of sensational murders in ...

's novels. Bevilaqua wrote a regular column in ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' on the progress of the Canberra Capitals during the 2006/07 WNBL season, and helped launch

Nfinity Nfinity is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. Nfinity markets cheerleading, basketball, and volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score poi ...

's women-specific basketball shoes in 2009. In 2013, Bevilaqua married her partner Lindsay, with the union becoming official with Indiana's recognition of same-sex marriage in October 2014. Tully and Lindsay have two children, Parker and Mackenzie.

References

External links

Official websiteFan site from her Seattle Storm playing days
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bevilaqua, Tully 1972 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Canberra Capitals players Cleveland Rockers players Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Indiana Fever players LGBT basketball players Australian LGBT people Lesbian sportswomen Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players of Australia Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Australia People from Merredin, Western Australia Perth Lynx players Point guards Portland Fire players San Antonio Stars players Seattle Storm players Commonwealth Games medallists in basketball Undrafted Women's National Basketball Association players

WNBA career

2004 Championship season

Personal life

See also

References

External links