Sheri Sam

Sheri Sam
Personal information
Born (1974-05-05) May 5, 1974 (age 50)
Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight178 lb (81 kg)
Career information
High schoolAcadiana (Scott, Louisiana)
CollegeVanderbilt (1992–1996)
WNBA draft1999: 2nd round, 20th overall pick
Selected by the Orlando Miracle
Playing career1999–2008
PositionForward / guard
Number55, 2
Career history
As player:
1999Orlando Miracle
2000–2002Miami Sol
2003Minnesota Lynx
2004Seattle Storm
2005–2006Charlotte Sting
2007Indiana Fever
2008Detroit Shock
As coach:
2014–2017Eastern Illinois (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing  United States
Jones Cup
Gold medal – first place 1995 Taipei Team Competition
Gold medal – first place 1996 Taipei Team Competition

Sheri Lynette Sam (born May 5, 1974) is an American professional women's basketball coach and player who played in the WNBA. She was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana as the youngest of eight siblings, and where she was a standout at Acadiana High School. She graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1996. She was an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois University.

Vanderbilt statistics

Source:[1][2][3][4]

Ratios
YEAR Team GP FG% 3P% FT% RBG APG BPG SPG PPG
1992-93 Vanderbilt 24 52.5% - 48.1% 2.08 0.46 0.25 0.29 3.21
1993-94 Vanderbilt 33 52.1% 50.0% 68.0% 6.24 1.94 0.15 1.39 9.21
1994-95 Vanderbilt 35 53.7% 32.0% 74.6% 8.31 3.60 0.23 2.00 15.54
1995-96 Vanderbilt 30 57.1% 31.7% 75.5% 7.17 3.50 0.17 1.70 20.40
Career 122 54.6% 33.3% 71.7% 6.25 2.51 0.20 1.43 12.60
Totals
YEAR Team GP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA REB A BK ST PTS
1992-93 Vanderbilt 24 32 61 0 0 13 27 50 11 6 7 77
1993-94 Vanderbilt 33 125 240 3 6 51 75 206 64 5 46 304
1994-95 Vanderbilt 35 224 417 8 25 88 118 291 126 8 70 544
1995-96 Vanderbilt 30 244 427 13 41 111 147 215 105 5 51 612
Career 122 625 1145 24 72 263 367 762 306 24 174 1537

USA Basketball

She competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 1995 Jones Cup Team that won the Bronze in Taipei.[5]

Sam was also invited to be a member of the Jones Cup team representing the US in 1996. She helped the team to a 9–0 record, and the gold medal in the event. Sam averaged 13 points per games, the highest scoring average on the team, and was named to the All-Tournament first team.[6]

Professional

ABL

After her college graduation, Sam played three years for the San Jose Lasers in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL), a professional women's league.

WNBA

Shortly after the ABL ceased operations in 1999, Sam was selected by the Orlando Miracle in the WNBA draft and became one of the Miracle's most productive players that year. Sam was waived by the Miracle just before the 2000 season began, but was signed as a free agent by the Miami Sol. She played three seasons (2000, 2001, and 2002) with the Sol until the team folded due to financial difficulties. After the Sol ceased operations, the 2003 Dispersal Draft was held, and the Minnesota Lynx selected Sam, and she played for the Lynx that season.

During the annual WNBA draft on April 15, 2004, Sam and Lynx teammate Janell Burse were traded to the Seattle Storm in exchange for Amanda Lassiter and a first-round draft pick. The trade was engineered as part of the Lynx' plan to draft the highly touted (and local favorite) Lindsay Whalen. Unfortunately for the Lynx, the Connecticut Sun had already selected Whalen. Sam spent the 2004 season with the Seattle Storm, as the team won the WNBA Finals by defeating, ironically, the Connecticut Sun, two games to one. After the 2004 season ended, Sam became an unrestricted free agent. On February 14, 2005, Sam signed with the Charlotte Sting. She would be involved in yet another dispersal draft in 2007 after the demise of the Sting. This time, she was selected by the Indiana Fever. On May 7, 2008, Sheri signed with the Detroit Shock. Her 2008 season with the Detroit Shock was the last of her 10-year WNBA career.[7]

During the 2007-08 WNBA off-season, she played for Elitzur Ramla in Israel.[8] She played for Panionios in Greece during the 2008-09 WNBA off-season.[9]

WNBA career statistics

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
† Denotes seasons in which Sam won a WNBA championship

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1999 Orlando 32 32 34.0 .388 .328 .688 4.6 2.4 1.3 0.3 2.0 11.4
2000 Miami 31 27 29.2 .387 .292 .670 4.3 2.1 1.1 0.2 2.4 12.8
2001 Miami 32 32 34.4 .432 .276 .750 4.3 2.8 1.7 0.3 2.7 13.9
2002 Miami 32 32 33.5 .434 .342 .618 4.8 2.6 2.2 0.2 2.2 14.5
2003 Minnesota 34 28 28.0 .383 .329 .705 4.2 2.6 1.1 0.2 1.4 11.0
2004† Seattle 34 32 29.9 .412 .262 .855 4.1 2.4 1.6 0.2 1.9 9.1
2005 Charlotte 34 33 31.6 .387 .321 .713 4.3 2.7 1.3 0.1 2.9 11.4
2006 Charlotte 34 34 29.1 .399 .269 .627 5.1 2.6 1.6 0.1 2.1 10.6
2007 Indiana 33 4 17.9 .339 .273 .690 2.9 1.3 0.9 0.2 1.2 5.0
2008† Detroit 32 15 14.9 .309 .286 .692 2.8 1.2 0.6 0.1 1.0 2.9
Career 10 years, 7 teams 328 269 28.3 .397 .302 .698 4.1 2.3 1.3 0.2 2.0 10.2

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2001 Miami 3 3 36.3 .323 .222 .818 3.3 1.3 1.7 0.0 2.7 10.3
2003 Minnesota 3 0 24.7 .357 .000 .750 5.3 2.7 2.0 0.0 2.7 8.7
2004† Seattle 8 8 31.0 .329 .250 .667 5.5 3.5 1.3 0.0 3.1 7.4
2007 Indiana 6 5 30.8 .373 .500 .500 5.3 2.2 1.0 0.2 0.8 8.0
2008† Detroit 6 0 5.0 .286 .000 1.000 0.5 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 1.0
Career 5 years, 5 teams 26 16 24.8 .342 .273 .690 4.0 2.0 1.1 0.0 1.8 6.5

Later life

Sam served as the assistant coach of women's basketball for Eastern Illinois University from 2013 to 2017. From 2017 to 2019 she was director of athletics, advancement officer, for Mercy High School in San Francisco, and from 2019 to 2020 director of athletics for athletic advancement at the Bay School of San Francisco.

In September 2020 Sam was named the managing director of the Northern California PGA Foundation.[10]

References

  1. ^ "FINAL 1993 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  2. ^ "FINAL 1994 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  3. ^ "FINAL 1995 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  4. ^ "FINAL 1996 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  5. ^ "1995 WOMEN'S R. WILLIAM JONES CUP". Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  6. ^ "1996 Women's R. William Jones Cup". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Vanderbilt Official Athletic Site - Athletics". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  8. ^ "WNBA.com: Offseason 2007-08: Overseas Roster". www.wnba.com. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  9. ^ "WNBA.com: Offseason 2008-09: Overseas Roster". www.wnba.com. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  10. ^ "Former WNBA All-Star, Sheri Sam, Named Managing Director of Northern California PGA Foundation". www.pga.com. Retrieved 2021-07-08.