Rachel Banham
Rachel Banham (Born July 15, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is the daughter of Don and Mel Banham. Rachel Banham is a Guard for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. She is majoring in Sociology at the University of Minnesota.
Banham is successful in her basketball career at Minnesota and has broken a lot of records. Banham, who was predicted to go early in the first round, was drafted by the Connecticut Sun with the 4th pick of the 2016 WNBA draft.[1]
High school career
Banham went to Lakeville North High School in Lakeville, Minnesota and graduated in 2011. She started on the varsity basketball team as an 8th grade student. During her senior year, she averaged 17.8 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, and four assists. With these numbers she led her squad to a 29-3 record and a conference championship.[2]
College career
After graduating from high school, Banham continued her education and basketball career at the University of Minnesota. Banham started all 36 games her freshman year, and was named Freshman All American First Team and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. During her freshman year, (2011-1012) she averaged 16.1 points per game which ranked her 97th in the nation. Her sophomore year (2012-2013) she was averaged 20.7 points per game which was good enough for second-leading sophomore scorer in NCAA division 1. As a Junior (2013-2014) she averaged 22.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. At the start of her senior season (2014-2015) Banham had only played 10 games before she suffered a season ending ACL injury. Before she had torn her ACL she was on ESPN's top 5 players to watch in the upcoming season. She later received a medical hardship waiver so she could play in the 2015-2016 season. When she returned to the court in the 2015-2016 season her senior year she tore it up. She was named Big Ten Player of the Year and was a John R. Wooden Award finalist.[3] Despite her time off with her injury, Banham came back with a heavy heart to do good things for the gophers. She became the gophers all-time leading scorer and tied an NCAA record with a 60-point game against Northwestern. Rachel ended her college career on a very high note becoming the sixth-leading scorer in NCAA history with 3,093 points. Her senior year became one of the most memorable season's in not only Gopher basketball history but NCAA basketball history as well.[4]
Minnesota statistics
Source[5]
| Year |
Team |
GP |
Points |
FG% |
3P% |
FT% |
RPG |
APG |
SPG |
BPG |
PPG |
| 2011-12 |
Minnesota |
36 |
580 |
41.9 |
42.5 |
81.7 |
5.2 |
2.7 |
1.6 |
0.2 |
16.1 |
| 2012-13 |
Minnesota |
32 |
663 |
43.5 |
33.5 |
89.5 |
4.0 |
3.9 |
1.9 |
0.4 |
20.7 |
| 2013-14 |
Minnesota |
34 |
750 |
41.8 |
42.1 |
87.4 |
3.7 |
3.9 |
1.3 |
0.3 |
22.1 |
| 2014-15 |
Minnesota |
10 |
186 |
42.6 |
40.5 |
73.7 |
4.5 |
4.6 |
1.0 |
0.8 |
18.6 |
| Career |
Minnesota |
32 |
914 |
45.7 |
39.0 |
85.9 |
5.9 |
3.8 |
2.0 |
0.3 |
28.6 |
References
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|---|
| | |
- East
- ATL
- CHI
- CON
- IND
- NY
- WAS
- West
- LA
- MIN
- PHO
- SA
- SEA
- TUL
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| | First round | |
|---|
| | Second round |
- Rachel Hollivay
- Jazmon Gwathmey
- Whitney Knight
- Courtney Walker
- Jamie Weisner
- Ruth Hamblin
- Lia Galdeira
- Jillian Alleyne
- Brene Moseley
- Bashaara Graves
- Brianna Butler
- Ameryst Alston
|
|---|
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External Sources