Candice Wiggins

Candice Dana Wiggins (born February 14, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player. Wiggins played college basketball at Stanford University, where she graduated as the all-time leading scorer in Stanford and Pac-10 women's basketball history. Throughout her playing career, Wiggins played for the Minnesota Lynx,[1] Tulsa Shock, Los Angeles Sparks and New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and has played overseas in Spain and Greece. Wiggins has won a WNBA championship (2011) and WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year (2008).

Candice Wiggins

Personal information
Born	February 14, 1987 Baltimore, Maryland
Nationality	American
Listed height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight	154 lb (70 kg)
Career information
High school	La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla, California)
College	Stanford (2004–2008)
WNBA draft	2008 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3rd overall
Selected by the Minnesota Lynx
Playing career	2008–2015
Position	Point guard / Shooting guard
Career history
2008–2012	Minnesota Lynx
2008–2009	Ros Casares Valencia
2009–2010	Sony Athinaikos Athens
2013	Tulsa Shock
2014	Los Angeles Sparks
2015	New York Liberty
Career highlights and awards
WNBA champion (2011) WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year (2008) WNBA All-Rookie Team (2008)
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Representing USA U18 and U19 2004 U18 Puerto Rico Team Competition 2005 U19 Tunisia Team Competition Pan American Games 2007 Brazil Team Competition

Personal life

Candice Wiggins was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1987 where her father, Alan Wiggins, played Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. After playing for the Orioles, her father, with wife Angela, son Alan Jr., and daughters Cassandra and Candice moved back to the San Diego, California area where he previously played for the San Diego Padres. When Wiggins was 3, she was hit by a car backing out of a driveway and almost lost one of her eyes. She still has the scar under that eye. When Wiggins was in the first grade, she scored 30 points against 4th graders in basketball. By the time she was in 5th grade, she had to play on the boys' teams so she could play at a competitive level. Wiggins' father died of AIDS when Wiggins was only 4 years old. "It was a scary time. No one would talk about it," Wiggins recalls. "A young girl wants to know about her Dad dying of AIDS. But it was taboo," she said. Wiggins has partnered with Until There's A Cure (UTAC), a non-profit organization that raises awareness and funds to combat AIDS through the sale of The Bracelet. To date, the organization has raised over $9 million for vaccine development, care services, and youth education.[2]

High school career

Wiggins attended La Jolla Country Day School in La Jolla, California for high school.[3] She was a four-year letter-winner in both volleyball and basketball. In all four years of high school she was named CIF Division IV Player of the year for basketball. Wiggins was a McDonald's All-American as a Senior. She also led La Jolla Country Day to the state championship game in each of her four seasons, winning it twice. She also captained the United States Junior National Team that won gold. Many high school recruiting services listed her as the best shooting guard in the nation and a top 5 player in the Class of 2004. Wiggins chose Stanford over Duke, while UCLA came in third and USC and Arizona were 4th and 5th on her list. Tennessee, Connecticut, and Texas rounded out her final 8.

High school awards

• 2004 USA Junior National Team Captain
• 2004 California's Ms. Basketball
• 2004 First Team High School All-American Student Sports
• 2004 First Team High School All-American Parade Magazine
• 2004 Second Team High School USA Today All-American
• 2004 Second Team High School Street and Smith All-American
• 2004 McDonald's All-American Game Participant
• 2004 Cal Hi Sports Player of the Year
• 2004 Coastal South League Player of the Year
• 2004 Adidas Top Ten Camp MVP
• 2004 CIF Division IV State Runner-Up
• 2004 CIF Division IV Player of the Year
• 2004 First All Coastal South League (Volleyball)
• 2004 First Team All-CIF (Volleyball)
• 2003 CIF Division IV State Runner-Up
• 2003 Coastal South League Player of the Year
• 2003 CIF Division IV Player of the Year
• 2003 First All Coastal South League (Volleyball)
• 2003 First Team All-CIF (Volleyball)
• 2002 CIF Division IV State Champions
• 2002 CIF Division IV Player of the Year
• 2002 Coastal South League Player of the Year
• 2002 First Team All Coastal South League (Volleyball)
• 2002 First Team All-CIF (Volleyball)
• 2001 CIF Division IV State Champions
• 2001 CIF Division IV Player of the Year
• 2001 Coastal South League Player of the Year

College career

Freshman year

When Wiggins came to Stanford University she was offered a scholarship for both basketball and volleyball. As a freshman on the basketball team, Wiggins led Stanford to a 32–3 record and an Elite Eight appearance.[4] She averaged 17.5 points per game and was named both the Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year and Player of The Year. This was the first time in the conference history that a freshman won the Player of the Year Award. Wiggins, along with Georgia's Tasha Humphrey, was named National Co-Freshman of the Year. She made second team All-American and was a Kodak All-American, the only freshman on either list.

Sophomore year

During her sophomore year, Wiggins led Stanford to a 26–8 record and another Elite Eight appearance where they lost to LSU. She averaged 21.8 points per game and made 90 three-pointers over the course of the season. She was again named Pac-10 Player of The Year and Second team All-American, as well as Kodak All-American.

Junior year

As a junior, Wiggins led Stanford to a 29–5 record and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the Cardinal were upset in Round 2 by Florida State, 68–61. She missed 5 games due to ankle and hamstring injuries, but averaged 16.9 points per game. Devanei Hampton of Cal won the Pac-10 Player of the Year Award this season. However, Wiggins was the only Pac-10 Player to be a Kodak All-American as she again made second team.

Wiggins played for the USA team in the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The team won all five games, earning the Gold Medal for the event.[5]

Senior year

In her senior season, Stanford started the season ranked No. 8 but moved up the polls with victories over No. 3 Rutgers (thanks to Wiggins hitting 2 free throws with 0.1 seconds left), and No. 10 Baylor. On December 22, Wiggins scored 21 points and led Stanford to a 73–69 overtime victory over 2007 NCAA champions Tennessee, Stanford's first win over Tennessee since 1996. On January 31, 2008, Wiggins scored 18 points in a win over USC at Maples Pavilion and passed Kate Starbird as the all-time leading scorer in Stanford women's basketball history. On March 2, 2008, she scored 24 points against Washington State to pass Lisa Leslie as the all-time leading scorer in Pac-10 women's basketball history. She was named the Pac-10 Player of The Year for the 2007–2008 season, the third time she has received the award. On March 24, 2008, she scored a career-high 44 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, and made 8 assists in an 88–54 win over UTEP as Stanford advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2008 NCAA tournament; a week later, her 41 points propelled Stanford to its first Final Four appearance since 1997, where they would reach the final before losing to the University of Tennessee. In this performance Wiggins became the only player in NCAA women's basketball history to score 40-plus points in multiple NCAA Tournament games.

By the end of her career at Stanford Wiggins was a 4-time All American at Stanford. Only 7 people have been a four-time All-American in women's basketball. On April 4, 2008, Wiggins was awarded the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The following day Wiggins was awarded the Wade Trophy as the best women's college basketball player in NCAA Division I.[6]

Wiggins is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and became a member of the Omicron Chi Chapter in Spring 2007. She graduated from Stanford with a degree in communications in the spring of 2008.

Collegiate awards

• 2008 Pac-10 Player of the Year
• 2008 Wade Trophy Player of the Year[6]
• 2008 Lowe's Senior Class Award Winner
• 2008 First Team WBCA/Kodak All-American
• 2008 First Team AP All-American
• 2008 Wooden Award Finalist
• 2008 Pac-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player
• 2008 Naismith Trophy Finalist
• 2008 All-Pac-10 Selection
• 2007 Second Team WBCA/Kodak All-American
• 2007 Second Team AP All-American
• 2007 Wooden Award Finalist
• 2007 Wade Trophy Finalist
• 2007 Naismith Trophy Finalist
• 2007 Pac-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player
• 2007 All-Pac-10 Selection
• 2007 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year
• 2006 Pac-10 Player of the Year
• 2006 Second Team WBCA/Kodak All-American
• 2006 Second Team AP All-American
• 2006 All-Pac-10 Selection
• 2006 Wade Trophy Finalist
• 2006 Bay Area's Most Dynamic Amateur Athlete
• 2005 USBWA National Co-Freshman of the Year
• 2005 Pac-10 Freshman and Player of the Year (first time this has happened)
• 2005 Second Team AP All-American (only freshman)
• 2005 Second Team Kodak/WBCA All-American (only freshman)
• 2005 Pac-10 Tournament MVP
• 2005 Great Alaskan Shootout MVP

College statistics

Source[7]

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%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2004-05	Stanford	35	612	48.3	33.6	83.5	5.4	2.8	2.4	0.5	17.5
2005-06	Stanford	34	740	47.7	43.3	82.4	4.8	3.5	2.0	0.6	21.8
2006-07	Stanford	29	490	46.0	44.1	78.9	4.1	3.3	1.5	0.4	16.9
2007-08	Stanford	39	787	42.9	34.4	82.1	4.8	3.1	2.2	0.4	20.2
Career	Stanford	137	2629	46.0	39.1	82.2	4.8	3.2	2.1	0.5	19.2

WNBA

Wiggins was chosen as the third overall pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx.

On May 18, 2008, she played in her first ever WNBA game. She scored 15 points, pulled down 4 rebounds, had 4 steals, and dished out 2 assists as the Minnesota Lynx beat the 2006 WNBA champions Detroit Shock 84–70.

Wiggins was named WNBA Rookie of the Month, presented by Hanns-G, for the month of June 2008.

Wiggins suffered from an injury during the first quarter of a July 24, 2008 game against the Indiana Fever. She was removed from the court in a wheelchair.[8] She suffered a severe lower back contusion and missed the next few weeks.[9]

Wiggins went on to win the 2nd 2008 WNBA's Sixth Woman of the Year Award and was also named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team after averaging a career-high 15.7 ppg off the bench for the Lynx.[10]

In her second season, Wiggins became the starting point guard for the Lynx. On June 29, 2009 Wiggins was awarded the Player of the Week Award for the Western Conference, Tamika Catchings won for the Eastern Conference.[11]

In the 2010 season, Wiggins was moved back to the bench as a backup point guard after the Lynx traded for all-star Lindsay Whalen. In June 2010, Wiggins ruptured her Achilles tendon with just eight seconds remaining in a game against the New York Liberty, an injury that ended her season after eight games.[12]

She returned to action in 2011, returning to her role as a primary backup at the guard position. The Lynx were much improved, and in September, Wiggins saw the first playoff action of her career and the following month, won her first WNBA championship after the Lynx defeated the Atlanta Dream in the Finals.

On March 1, 2013, Wiggins was traded to the Tulsa Shock in a three-team deal.[13]

On April 2, 2014, Wiggins signed with the Los Angeles Sparks.[14]

On March 9, 2015, Wiggins signed with the New York Liberty.[15]

On March 22, 2016, Wiggins announced her retirement from the WNBA after 8 seasons.[16] Despite being only 29 years old and without a career-threatening injury, Wiggins expressed in a letter about her retirement that she was ready to move on from playing professional basketball.[16]

In a 2017 interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, Wiggins revealed more about what led her to retire from basketball. Calling the league's culture "very, very harmful" and "toxic to me", she alleged that she had been bullied on the court throughout her WNBA career for being heterosexual and nationally popular. Wiggins added, "I wanted to play two more seasons of WNBA, but the experience didn’t lend itself to my mental state." During the interview, she remarked,[17]

Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman was huge. I would say 98 percent of the women in the WNBA are gay women. It was a conformist type of place. There was a whole different set of rules they (the other players) could apply."[18]

Wiggins' remarks led to a major backlash from many WNBA players and other sports figures, but she largely stood by them. She did clarify her "98 percent" remark, saying: "It was my way to illustrate the isolation that I felt personally. I felt like the 2 percent versus the 98 percent."[19]

USA Basketball

Wiggins was a member of the USA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The event was held in August 2004, when the USA team defeated Puerto Rico to win the championship. Wiggins was the third leading scorer for the team, averaging 15.2 points per game.[20]

Wiggins continued with the team as it became the U19 team, and competed in the 2005 U19 World Championships in Tunis, Tunisia. The USA team won all eight games, winning the gold medal. Wiggins was the second leading scorer for the team, averaging 15.8 points per game and was second on the team for steals with 16.[21]

U.S. National Team

Wiggins was invited to try out for the United States Senior National Team and was named as an injury replacement or alternate. Along with Candace Parker and Courtney Paris she was one of the only college players to be named to the team. She spent the summer of 2007 playing in Chile with different United States National teams and was eventually named United States Basketball Female Athlete of The Year for 2007.[22]

Wiggins was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009.[23] The team selected to play for the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics is usually chosen from these participants. At the conclusion of the training camp, the team will travel to Ekaterinburg, Russia, where they compete in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational.[23]

In 2011, Wiggins was again chosen for the national team initial training camps, from which USA Basketball would select the team to represent the US in the 2012 Olympics,[24] though Wiggins was ultimately not selected for the senior national team.

Sports diplomacy

In September 2013 and November 2014, Wiggins traveled to Nicaragua and then Chile as a SportsUnited Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State. In this function, she worked with Jennifer Lacy and Alex English to conduct basketball clinics and events for more than 850 youth and women from underserved areas. In so doing, Wiggins helped contribute to SportsUnited's mission to empower of women and girls and promote cultural exchange.[25][26]

See also

• 2008 WNBA Draft

References

1. "Parker, Fowles, Wiggins top three picks in WNBA draft." ESPN.com. April 9, 2008. Associated Press. April 9, 2008 <http://sports.espn.go.com/wnba/news/story?id=3338047>.
2. Until There's A Cure: Candice Wiggins Archived June 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
3. Wiggins High School Fan Page
4. Candice Wiggins Cardinal Profile Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
5. "Fifteenth Pan American Games -- 2007". USA Basketball. November 19, 2010. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
6. "The Wade Trophy". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
7. "Women's Basketball Player stats". NCAA. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
8. "Fever find way to lose again".
9. "Page not found - Minnesota Lynx". Minnesota Lynx. Cite uses generic title (help)
10. "WNBA.com: Minnesota's Candice Wiggins Named2008 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year". www.wnba.com.
11. "WNBA.com: Tamika Catchings and Candice Wiggins Named WNBA Players of the Week". www.wnba.com.
12. "Candice Wiggins Injury Update - OurSports Central". www.oursportscentral.com.
13. "Lynx acquire McCarville in three-team trade; Wiggins to Tulsa". startribune.com. March 1, 2013.
14. "LA Sparks sign veteran guard Candice Wiggins". usatoday.com/. April 2, 2014.
15. New York Liberty Sign Free Agent Candice Wiggins Archived March 11, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
16. "Into the Sunset - By Candice Wiggins". The Players' Tribune.
17. Leonard, Tod (February 17, 2017). "Wiggins: WNBA's 'harmful' culture of bullying, jealousy". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
18. "Candice Wiggins: I paid for being a straight woman in a 98-percent-gay WNBA". www.msn.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017.
19. Leonard, Tod (February 21, 2017). "Amid backlash, Wiggins stands by controversial WNBA comments". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
20. "Fifth Women's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team -- 2004". USA Basketball. February 20, 2014. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
21. "Sixth FIBA Women's U19 World Championship -- 2005". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
22. "Candice Wiggins Female Athlete of the Year".
23. "USA Basketball Women's National Team To Tip-Off Training Tomorrow In D.C." USA Basketball. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
24. "Charles, Moore lead U.S. pool additions". ESPN. March 3, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2010.
25. "Journey of a lifetime in Nicaragua". espnW. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
26. "November 14 | Santiago, Chile - Embassy of the United States". chile.usembassy.gov. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2016.

External links

• Stanford Univ. Athletic Profile
• Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com or Basketball-Reference.com 
• Candice Wiggins on Twitter