Brittney Yevette Griner (born October 18, 1990[1] in Houston , Texas[2] ) is an American college basketball player at Baylor University in Waco, Texas . Standing 6'8" tall, Griner wears a men's US size 17 or 18 shoe and has a wingspan of 86".[3] [4] In 2009, Griner was named the nation's #1 high school women's basketball player by Rivals.com .[3] Griner was selected to the 2009 McDonald's All-American basketball team.[5]
Basketball
High school
Griner attended Nimitz High School in Houston . In addition to basketball, as a freshman Griner played varsity volleyball .
During Griner's senior year, she led the Cougars of to the Texas 5A girls basketball state championship game, where they lost 52-43 to Mansfield Summit High School .
Griner was named a WBCA All-American and participated in the 2009 WBCA High School All-America Game, leading the team by scoring 20 points and collecting 9 rebounds.
College career
Griner recorded one of the first women's collegiate dunks, the first being Candace Parker of the University of Tennessee . November 24, 2009, against Jacksonville State.
On December 16, 2009, Griner recorded Baylor's first triple-double with 34 points, 13 rebounds, and Big 12 Conference record 11 blocked shots. The 34 points and 11 blocks were career highs.
On January 2, 2010, Griner recorded the second and third dunks of her college career in a blowout game vs. Texas State University . Griner became the second woman to dunk twice in a single college game. Baylor would win that game by 81 points defeating Texas State 99-18.
Griner is only the seventh player to dunk during a women's college basketball game.
As a true freshman Griner established herself as one of the greatest shot blockers in all of women's basketball history. At the conclusion of her freshman year she had set the all time record for blocked shots in a single season by a college female player(all divisions) by rejecting 223 shots. On March 22, Griner set an NCAA tournament record with 14 blocked shots in a 49-33 win against the Georgetown Hoyas .
On March 29, Griner led the Lady Bears to the Final Four. In the Elite Eight game just before, in which Baylor defeated Duke 51-48, Griner blocked 9 shots, totaling 35 for the tournament, a new NCAA Women's Tournament record. Duke's Alison Bales had held the previous record of 30 blocks in the 2006 NCAA Women's Tournament.
Controversy
On March 3, 2010, Griner was ejected from a game for punching Texas Tech player Jordan Barncastle in the face after Barncastle pulled on her arm. The punch thrown by Griner broke Barncastle's nose. Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey imposed a one-game suspension in addition to the one-game suspension mandated by NCAA rules.
Honors
Along with being selected as the number one high school player in the country by Rivals.com , Griner was featured on the cover of ESPN 's Rise magazine, and was selected by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association as the 2009 State Farm /WBCA High School Player of the Year.
References
- ^ "Houston rocket: Nimitz 6-6 sophomore Brittney Griner is taking off" , SI.com , January 16, 2007.
- ^ "Baylor Women's Basketball Player Bio"
- ^ a b Jeff Fedotin, Griner named nation's no. 1 player , Yahoo Sports. Retrieved 03-02-2009.
- ^ "Could 6'8" Brittney Griner play in the NBA?" , Yahoo! Sports, February 12, 2008.
- ^ McDonald's Girls All-American Teams Announced
- ^ "2009 WBCA High School All-America Game" . WBCA. http://www.wbca.org/education/wbca-events/wbca-high-school-all-america-game/box-scores/ . Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ Woman Dunks: Brittney Griner's 1st College Slam (Video) Interbasket
- ^ "Griner gets her first dunk out of the way early in rout of Jacksonville State" , AP at ESPN.com , November 24, 2009.
- ^ Brittney Griner has triple-double, misses 3 dunks
- ^ Brittney Griner dunks twice, Baylor wins by 81 (video) ,
- ^ "Griner Dunks Twice in WBB's 99-18 Win" . Baylorbears.com. 2010-01-02. http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/010210aac.html . Retrieved 2010-04-03.
- ^ . http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/griner_brittney00.html .
- ^ ESPN (2010-03-22). "Georgetown Hoyas vs. Baylor Lady Bears - Recap" . Scores.espn.go.com. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=300810239 . Retrieved 2010-04-03.
- ^ Mar 29, 8:30 pm EDT (2010-03-30). "Griner sets NCAA tournament mark for blocked shots" . Rivals.yahoo.com. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/news?slug=ap-ncaa-griner-blocks . Retrieved 2010-04-03.
- ^ "Griner punches Barncastle after foul" , ESPN.com , March 4, 2010.
- ^ "Baylor Freshman Suspended for Punching Opponent in the Face" , AP in New York Times , March 4, 2010.
- ^ a b Yolande Lezine, Another Honor For Brittney , Feb 17, 2009. Retrieved 03-02-3009.
External links
- brittney-griner.com
- High School Girl Dunker
- Britney Griner, Basketball Player, Helps Redefine Beauty
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Brittney Yevette Griner (born October 18, 1990 in Houston, Texas) is an American college basketball player at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Standing 6'8" tall, Griner wears a men's Read the rest
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Brittney Griner scored 29 points and 12 rebounds without playing the final 10 minutes of the game. She outscored Texas by 23-22 in the first half. Read the rest
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16-year old Brittney Griner is a high school basketball player from Texas. Griner was named USA Today's high school girl basketball player of the year on April 28, 2009.USA Read the rest
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Brittney Griner Blog. One of the most viewed young basketball players in the country. She dunks, she rebound, she blocks, and is a terror on D. Read the rest
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