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Janice Lawrence Braxton

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Janice Faye Lawrence Braxton (née Lawrence, born June 7, 1962) is an American former professional women's basketball player.[1] Born in Lucedale, Mississippi, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Janice Lawrence Braxton
Personal information
BornJune 7, 1962 (1962-06-07) (age 62)
Lucedale, Mississippi, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 2.5 in (1.89 m)
Listed weight161 lb (73 kg)
Career information
CollegeLouisiana Tech (1980–1984)
WNBA draft1997: Initial allocation round
Selected by the Cleveland Rockers
PositionForward
Number8, 38
Career history
1997–1999Cleveland Rockers
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Los Angeles Team competition
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 1983 Venezuela Team competition
Jones Cup
Gold medal – first place 1984 Taipei Team competition
FIBA World Championship for Women
Silver medal – second place 1983 Rio de Janeiro Team competition

College career

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Braxton played college basketball for Louisiana Tech, where she helped lead the Lady Techsters to national championships in 1981 and 1982.[1] While only a sophomore in 1982, she was the leading scorer in the NCAA tournament, and was named the tournament MVP.[1] Braxton won the WBCA Player of the Year award in 1984.

Louisiana Tech statistics

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Source[2]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% FT% RPG PPG
1980–81 Louisiana Tech 34 507 NA 8.3 14.9
1981–82 Louisiana Tech 36 528 55.6% 71.3% 7.0 14.7
1982–83 Louisiana Tech 33 685 59.8% 63.5% 9.1 20.8
1983–84 Louisiana Tech 32 683 61.9% 71.0% 8.1 21.3
Career 135 2403 59.3% 68.3% 8.1 17.8

USA Basketball

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Braxton was a member of the 1983 Pan American Games team that won a gold medal in Venezuela.[3]

Braxton was a member of the USA National team at the 1983 World Championships, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The team won six games, but lost two against the Soviet Union. In an opening round game, the USA team had a nine-point lead at halftime, but the Soviets came back to take the lead, and a final shot by the USA failed to drop, leaving the USSR team with a one-point victory 85–84. The USA team won their next four games, setting up the gold medal game against USSR. This game was also close, and was tied at 82 points each with six seconds to go in the game. Elena Chausova of the Soviet Union received the inbounds pass and hit the game winning shot in the final seconds, giving the USSR team the gold medal with a score of 84–82. The USA team earned the silver medal. Braxton averaged 8.9 points per game.[4]

In 1984, the United States sent its National team to the 1984 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan, for pre-Olympic practice. The team easily beat each of the eight teams they played, winning by an average of just under 50 points per game. Braxton averaged 6.7 points per game.[5]

She won a gold medal with the USA Women's Olympic basketball team at the 1984 Summer Olympics.[6][7]

She was inducted into the Louisiana Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2006, Braxton was elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee.[8]

Professional career

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Braxton played for the New York team in the Women's American Basketball Association, a short-lived league in the mid-80's (not to be confused with WABA a league of the same name existing in 2002).[9]

Braxton played 13 seasons in Europe with Vicenza, Messina and Parma in Italian League. The Vicenza team won four European Champions Cup while Braxton played for the team, scoring almost 23 points per game. She earned All-Star honors in 1997.[9]

WNBA

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She was selected in the initial player allocation of the 1997 WNBA draft to the Cleveland Rockers in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997, in a 56–76 loss to the Houston Comets. Braxton recorded 3 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals playing for nearly 20 minutes. Braxton played for 3 seasons from 1997 to 1999 and she spent all three years playing for the Rockers.[10] Her only time making the playoffs with the Rockers was during the 1998 season. Braxton started in all 30 games that season and helped the Rockers finish 20–10 (#1 in the Eastern Conference) as they matched up against he Phoenix Mercury in the Semi-Finals. Despite Braxton having great averages of 10.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in the playoffs series, Cleveland would lose 2–1 to the Mercury and be eliminated.

The 1999 season saw a massive downturn for the Rockers as they finished the season 7–25 with Braxton playing in less minutes per game than previous years and averaging less points, rebounds and assists across the board. Braxton's final WNBA game was played on August 21, 1999, in a 66–56 win over the New York Liberty where she recorded 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal.[11]

In 2003, she joined the Cleveland Rockers as an assistant coach.[9]

Awards and honors

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  • 1982—NCAA Tournament MVP[1]
  • 1983—Kodak All-America[1]
  • 1984—Kodak All-America[1]
  • 1984—Wade Trophy[12]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 Cleveland 25 24 32.9 .417 .500 .768 7.6 2.0 1.4 1.1 2.1 11.5
1998 Cleveland 30 30 28.0 .495 .333 .755 5.6 2.5 1.7 0.5 2.2 9.8
1999 Cleveland 26 21 18.3 .460 .125 .697 4.3 1.3 0.7 0.5 1.3 5.8
Career 3 years, 1 team 81 75 26.4 .458 .333 .748 5.8 1.9 1.3 0.7 1.9 9.0

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1998 Cleveland 3 3 27.7 .385 .000 .857 6.3 2.0 0.7 0.0 2.3 10.7

References

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  • David L. Porter, ed. (2005). Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30952-6.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Porter p. 53
  2. ^ "Women's Basketball Finest" (PDF). fs.ncaa.org. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  3. ^ "Ninth Pan American Games -- 1983". usab.com. USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  4. ^ "Ninth World Championship For Women -- 1983". usab.com. USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  5. ^ "1984 WOMEN'S R. WILLIAM JONES CUP". usab.com. USA Basketball. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  6. ^ "Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad -- 1984". usabasketball.com. USA Basketball. Archived from the original on April 24, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  7. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Janice Lawrence". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016.
  8. ^ "WBHOF Inductees". wbhof.com. Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
  9. ^ a b c Porter p. 54
  10. ^ "Janice Braxton WNBA Stats".
  11. ^ "New York Liberty at Cleveland Rockers, August 21, 1999".
  12. ^ "The Wade Trophy". wbca.org. Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
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