Dena Head
Medal record | ||
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Women's basketball | ||
Representing the United States | ||
World University Games
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1991 Sheffield | Team competition
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Jones Cup | ||
1992 Taipei | Team competition
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FIBA World Championship for Women
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1994 Sydney | Team competition |
Dena Head (born August 16, 1970) is an American retired women's basketball player. She is best remembered as the first player drafted in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
High school years
At Salem high school in Canton, Michigan, Head was named
College years
Head attended the University of Tennessee and earned a degree in sports management. She played four years of basketball, winning the NCAA women's college basketball championship in 1989 and 1991. Head was named to the 1992 Kodak All-America Team. She was the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year as a senior, and was the 1989 SEC Freshman of the Year. As a senior, she was named to the Naismith All America Team, and in 1990 she was named to the NCAA All Regional Tournament Team East.
She later attended Baker College.
USA Basketball
Head was named to the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team (now called the
Head played for the USA team, one of sixteen teams at the fifteenth
Head traveled to Taiwan with the team representing the US at the 1992 Women's
Head was named to the USA national team and competed in the 1994 World Championships, held in June 1994 in
International career
Before the WNBA, Head played seven seasons of professional basketball in Brazil and in Europe for France, Spain, Italy, and Hungary.
WNBA career
Head was the first and oldest player drafted in the WNBA. As part of the
For her second season, Head stayed with the Starzz and became a started for half of the season. She started in the team's first 8 games, and then 6 of the team's final 8 games (with starting Guard duties going to teammate Chantel Tremitiere in the middle of the season). Although Head played in more games and started in many more games than her rookie season, her minutes per game was lower (17.4 down to 15.6) and she had lower productivity amongst all of her statistics. Her points per game dropped to 3.6, rebounds dropped to 1.7 and assists dropped to 1.2 in her sophomore season as the Starzz finished with a 8 - 22 record.
On June 9, 1999 (one day before the 1999 season began), Head would be waived by the Starzz and she subsequently missed the entire season.[7]
The Phoenix Mercury would be the next stop for Head as she signed with the team on June 19, 2000. This season saw Head see even less playing time and averaging even less numbers, only playing in 17 of the Mercury's remaining 24 season games at 8.8 minutes per game. These minutes resulted in her averaging 1.6 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists. Fortunately, Head would finally reach the playoffs in her career as the Mercury finished 20 - 12 and matched up against the Los Angeles Sparks in the first round.
Head's final WNBA game was Game 2 of that 2000 Western Conference First Round series on August 13, 2000, against the Sparks. The Mercury would lose the game 76 - 101 and dropped the series to the Sparks 2 - 0. Head recorded 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block in her final game [8]
Post WNBA career
Head served as women's basketball team assistant coach for the Central Connecticut State University.
Head now works for Amazon as a Manager.
References
- ^ "Second FIBA Women's U19/Junior World Championship -- 1989". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
- ^ "Fifteenth World University Games -- 1993". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
- ^ "1992 Women's R. William Jones Cup". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
- ^ "Twelvth [sic] World Championship for Women -- 1994". Archived from the original on April 26, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
- ^ https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscores/199706210UTA.html
- ^ https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscores/199708020UTA.html
- ^ https://www.courant.com/1999/06/10/transactions-4403/
- ^ https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscores/200008130LAS.html
External links
- CCSU coach profile Archived April 5, 2005, at archive.today