Candace Parker
From Hoopedia
Candace Nicole Parker (born April 19, 1986 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a college basketball player, playing for the University of Tennessee. She may be best known for being the first woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament game and the first woman to dunk twice in a college game — she set both milestones as a redshirt freshman on March 19, 2006.
A uniquely versatile player, she is mainly a forward, but is listed on Tennessee's roster as a forward, center, and guard. She was a starter for the Lady Vols teams that won the 2007 and 2008 NCAA championships.
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High School
Parker attended Naperville Central High School in Naperville, Illinois and graduated in 2004. While in high school, Parker led her basketball team to state titles in 2003 and 2004 and amassed numerous accolades.
She is the only two time award winner of the USA Today Player of the Year, winning the award in 2003 and 2004. Parker won the Naismith and Gatorade Awards as national basketball player of the year during her junior and senior years. She would win the Gatorade award again in her senior year to join only Marion Jones and LeBron James as the only back to back winners.
She was a consensus pick as player of the year in Illinois in 2002, 2003, and 2004. A four year member of the All-State first team, Parker compiled a school-record 2,768 points (22.9 points per game) and 1,592 rebounds (13.2 rebounds per game), while starting 119 of the 121 games in which she played. She also became the first women's player to announce her NCAA women's basketball verbal commitment live on ESPNEWS.
The summer after her junior year in high school, Candace tore her ACL in her left knee in a summer league game. She returned in December of her senior year and went on to lead her school to its second consecutive state title.
In August of 2004, the "CP-3"s, Team USA roommates Candace Parker and Courtney Paris, led the undefeated USA Junior World Championship team to a Gold medal with 16.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg and 15.8 ppg, 9.0 rpg respectively. While training, Parker had a relapse of knee pain and was required to undergo surgery in her lateral meniscus and the lateral articular cartilage in her left knee.
College Years
Parker attends the University of Tennessee. She ended up taking a medical redshirt her freshman year of college, and is currently starting for the Tennessee Lady Vols during the 2006-07 season. She was the Southeastern Conference Rookie of the Year (Coaches and AP) and helped the Lady Vols win the 2006 SEC Tournament Championship. With 17 seconds remaining in the 2006 SEC Tournament Championship Game against LSU, Parker hit the game-winning shot. She was named Tournament MVP, and was named to the 2006 Kodak All-America team, making her one of the very few to ever receive the award as a freshman.
Candace Parker was the only college player named to the USA squad for the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women in Brazil.
On January 28, 2007, in an away game against Alabama, Parker scored her 1,000 career point as a sophomore making her the fastest player in Lady Vol history to do so. She did it in 56 games, bettering Chamique Holdsclaw's mark of 57 games and Tamika Catchings's of 58 games. On March 1, at the SEC tournament in Duluth, Georgia, Parker was named the 2007 SEC Player of the Year. On April 3, she led The Lady Vols to their first National Championship victory since 1998 with 17 points, and earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honor.
Parker announced on February 21, 2008 that she would forgo her final season of eligibility at Tennessee in order to focus on the 2008 Olympics and pursue a professional career. She is on schedule to graduate with her incoming class in May 2008. A sports management major who had a 3.35 grade point average as of December 2007, she was named University Division Academic All-American of the Year in women's basketball for 2008 by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
On April 8, 2008, Parker led the Lady Vols to their second straight NCAA women's title, the eighth championship for Tennessee. She was also named the MOP for the second consecutive tournament, joining Cheryl Miller, Chamique Holdsclaw and Diana Taurasi as the only female players to have done so. She won the honor despite suffering a separated shoulder during her team's regional finals win. She returned despite the injury, though wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt under her jersey to cover the brace, and led the Lady Vols to the title.
WNBA
Parker was selected as the first pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks.
Slam Dunk Contest
Parker made sports history in March 2004 by winning the Slam Dunk contest of the McDonald's High School All-American Game in Oklahoma City. Only a 17-year-old high school senior, Parker beat five male competitors for the prestigious title, including future 2005 NBA Slam Dunk contestant JR Smith and champion Josh Smith. The competition had been won in years past by LeBron James and Vince Carter.
After throwing down several dunks in the opening rounds, Parker saved her most dramatic for the final victory. She darted down the left side of the lane, with her left arm covering her eyes for one step, and jammed a crowd-pleasing clean right-handed dunk; since she took her arm away from her face, it was probably not an actual no-look dunk. Some sportswriters at the time were skeptical whether Parker's dunks were impressive enough to win the contest or whether judges had probably given her higher marks due to the sheer surprise of seeing a female high school player dunk so smoothly. Some even questioned if it was a dunk, where all she had done was touch her fingers on the rim.
Trivia
- Her brother Anthony is a professional basketball player. Anthony currently plays for the Toronto Raptors of the NBA and is a 2-time Euroleague MVP with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.
- Wore number 32 in high school.
- Was in an episode of the, now off air, ABC Family TV show called Switched! which aired in August of 2004. She switched places with a young girl named Stephanie from Cape Cod, Massachusetts for a day.
- Currently dating Atlanta Hawks center/forward Shelden Williams.
