Jennifer Gillom

Jennifer Gillom
Information about the player
birthday	June 13, 1964
place of birth	Abbeville , Mississippi , United States
size	191 cm
position	center
college	University of Mississippi
WNBA Draft	Initial Player Allocation 1997
Jersey number	22nd
Clubs as active
1995-1996	Riunita Messina
1996-1997	Sporting Athens
1997-1999	Galatasaray Istanbul
WNBA clubs as active
1997-2002	Phoenix Mercury
2003	Los Angeles Sparks
Clubs as trainers
2008	Minnesota Lynx (Assistant)
2009	Minnesota Lynx
2010-2011	Los Angeles Sparks
2012–	Washington Mystics (Assistant)
1 As of May 20, 2016

Jennifer Gillom (born June 13, 1964 in Abbeville , Mississippi ) is a former American basketball player who played from 1997 to 2003 for the Phoenix Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) on the position of the center . In her seven seasons WNBA career, she was honored as the fairest player with the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award . At the international level, she won the gold medal with the US national team at the 1988 Summer Olympics . In addition, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 .

After her playing career, she was the head coach of the Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks from 2009 to 2011 . Since January 2012 she has been assistant trainer for the Washington Mystics in the WNBA.

Player career

Professional basketball (1997 to 2003)

Gillom was assigned to the Phoenix Mercury in the 1997 Initial Player Allocation . She played her first game in the Women's National Basketball Association on June 22, 1997 against the Charlotte Sting , in which she also scored her first points. The American completed 28 games in the 1997 season - all in the starting lineup - for the Mercury, averaging 15.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. At the end of the season she was elected to the All-WNBA Second Team for her outstanding performance . In addition, the Mercury qualified as the best team in the Western Conference for the playoffs, where they failed despite home advantage in the first round to the New York Liberty .

Her second season for the Mercury she finished with an average of 20.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, which is why she was elected to the All-WNBA First Team . In addition, she made it with the Mercury for the first time in the WNBA Finals, where she failed at the Houston Comets with 1: 2 in games. Gillom remained until the 2002 season part of the squad of the Mercury with whom they only reached the playoffs one more time in the 2000 season. In her final season for the Phoenix franchise, Gillom, who never ended any season for the Mercury with a point average of less than 12 points, was honored with the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award as the fairest player in the league.

After six seasons in Phoenix, she ended her career as a player with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2003 . The Sparks reached the WNBA Finals for the third time in a row this season, where they failed 2-1 in games due to the Detroit Shock .

For several years she was also active for clubs in Europe.

National team

In 1988 Gillom won the gold medal with the US national team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul . In 1986 and 2002 she was also world champion with the US team.

Coaching career

WNBA (since 2008)

Jennifer Gillom returned to Phoenix after the end of her career as a player , where she supervised the high school basketball team of the Xavier College Preparatory . In 2008 she became an assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association . When Don Zierden, the head coach of Lynx, resigned in spring 2009 , Gillom took over the coaching post on an interim basis until the end of the season. The following year she was named head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks . In her first season for the Sparks she reached the playoffs for the first time after a weak start, where the Sparks failed because of the Seattle Storm . In early July 2011, Gillom was replaced by Joe Bryant as the head coach of the Sparks. Gillom has been an assistant trainer at Washington Mystics since January 2012 .

National team (since 2010)

At the 2010 World Basketball Championship in the Czech Republic , she was assistant coach for the US national team , with which she won the gold medal at the tournament. At the beginning of 2012, the American Basketball Federation announced that Gillom would also look after the national team as an assistant coach at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London .

Achievements and Awards

• 1988 gold medal at the Summer Olympics
• 1997 All-WNBA Second Team
• 1998 All-WNBA First Team
• 1999 Participation in the WNBA All-Star Game
• 2002 Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award
• In 2009 inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Web links

• WNBA player profile
• Statistics about the player on basketball-reference.com (engl.)
• FIBA overview of participation in international tournaments
• FIBA Europe overview of participation in European tournaments
• Statistics about the trainer on basketball-reference.com (engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} player profile on WNBA.com. (No longer available online.) WNBA, archived from the original on January 19, 2012 ; accessed on June 29, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b} JENNIFER GILLOM JOINS MYSTICS COACHING STAFF. Washington Mystics, January 17, 2012, accessed June 29, 2012 . 
3. ↑ Zierden resigns days before opener. espnW, June 3, 2009, accessed on June 29, 2012 . 
4. ↑ LOS ANGELES SPARKS NAME HALL OF FAMER JENNIFER GILLOM HEAD COACH. Los Angeles Sparks, accessed June 29, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Kobe Bryant's dad is LA's new coach. ESPN LA, July 11, 2011, accessed June 29, 2012 . 
6. ↑ Doug Bruno, Jennifer Gillom Named Assistant Coaches For 2010 USA Women's World Championship Team. (No longer available online.) USA Basketball, September 16, 2009, archived from the original on June 27, 2012 ; accessed on June 28, 2012 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Doug Bruno, Jennifer Gillom, Marynell Meadors Return To USA Basketball As 2012 US Olympic Team Assistant Coaches. (No longer available online.) USA Basketball January 20, 2012, archived from the original on January 28, 2012 ; accessed on June 29, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.