Candice Wiggins

Personal information
Born	(1987-02-14)February 14, 1987 (age 38) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
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: 1st round, 3rd overall pick
Selected by theMinnesota 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) Senior CLASS Award (2008) Wade Trophy (2008) First-team All-American –AP (2008) 3x Second-team All-American – AP (2005–2007) 3x All-American –USBWA (2006–2008) 4xKodak/State Farm Coaches' All-American (2005–2008) First-teamAll-Pac 10 (2008) 3xPac-10 Player of the Year (2005, 2006, 2008) 3xPac-12 Tournament MOP (2005, 2007, 2008) 3xAll-Pac 10 (2005–2007) USBWA National Co-Freshman of the Year (2005) Pac-10 Freshman of the Year (2005) Pac-10 All-Freshman Team (2005) McDonald's All-American (2004)
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats atBasketball Reference
Medals RepresentingUSA U18 and U19 2004 U18 Puerto Rico Team Competition 2005 U19 Tunisia Team Competition Pan American Games 2007 Brazil Team Competition

Candice Dana Wiggins (born February 14, 1987) is an American former professionalbasketball player. Wiggins played college basketball atStanford 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 theMinnesota Lynx,^[1]Tulsa Shock,Los Angeles Sparks andNew York Liberty of theWomen's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and has played overseas inSpain andGreece. Wiggins has won aWNBA championship (2011) and aWNBA Sixth Woman of the Year (2008).

Candice Wiggins was born inBaltimore, Maryland in 1987 where her father,Alan Wiggins, playedMajor League Baseball for theBaltimore Orioles. After playing for the Orioles, her father, with wife Angela, sonAlan Jr., and daughters Cassandra and Candice moved back to the San Diego, California area, where he had previously played for theSan Diego Padres.^{[citation needed]}

When Wiggins was three years of age, she was hit by a car backing out of a driveway and almost lost one of her eyes. When Wiggins was in the first grade, she scored 30 points playing against fourth graders in basketball. By the time she was in fifth grade, she had to play on boys' teams so she could play at a competitive level.^{[citation needed]}

Wiggins' father died of AIDS when Wiggins was only four 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.^[2]

Wiggins attendedLa 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 five player in the Class of 2004.^{[citation needed]}

When Wiggins came toStanford University she was offered a scholarship for both basketball and volleyball. As a freshman on the basketball team, Wiggins ledStanford to a 32–3 record and anElite Eight appearance.^[4] She averaged 17.5 points per game and was named both thePac-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'sTasha 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.^{[citation needed]}

During her sophomore year, Wiggins led Stanford to a 26–8 record and another Elite Eight appearance where they lost toLSU. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Wiggins played for the USA team in the2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The team won all five games, earning the gold medal for the event.^[5]

In her senior season, Stanford started the season ranked No. 8 but moved up the polls with victories over No. 3Rutgers (thanks to Wiggins hitting 2 free throws with 0.1 seconds left), and No. 10Baylor.^{[citation needed]} On January 31, 2008, Wiggins scored 18 points in a win overUSC atMaples Pavilion and passedKate Starbird as the all-time leading scorer in Stanford women's basketball history.^{[citation needed]} On March 2, 2008, she scored 24 points againstWashington State to passLisa Leslie as the all-time leading scorer in Pac-10 women's basketball history.^{[citation needed]} She was named the Pac-10 Player of The Year for the 2007–2008 season, the third time she had received the award.^{[citation needed]}

On March 24, 2008, Wiggins scored a career-high 44 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, and dished out eight assists in an 88–54 win overUTEP as Stanford advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the2008 NCAA tournament.^{[citation needed]} 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 theUniversity of Tennessee.^{[citation needed]} During the NCAA Tournament, Wiggins became the only player inNCAA women's basketball history to score 40 or more points in multipleNCAA Tournament games.^{[citation needed]}

Wiggins is one of only seven women's basketball players to have been a four-time All American. On April 4, 2008, Wiggins was awarded theLowe's Senior CLASS Award. The following day, Wiggins was awarded theWade Trophy as the best women's college basketball player in NCAA Division I.^[6]

Wiggins is a member ofDelta 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.^{[citation needed]}

Source^[7]

Wiggins was chosen by theMinnesota Lynx as the third overall pick in the2008 WNBA draft.^{[citation needed]}

On May 18, 2008, Wiggins played in her first WNBA game. She scored 15 points, pulled down 4 rebounds, had four steals, and dished out four assists as the Lynx defeated theDetroit Shock, 84–70.^{[citation needed]} Wiggins was named WNBA Rookie of the Month for the month of June 2008.^{[citation needed]} She suffered an injury during the first quarter of a July 24, 2008 game against theIndiana Fever. She was removed from the court in a wheelchair.^[8] Wiggins went on to win the 2008 WNBA 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.^[9]

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.^[10]

In the 2010 season, Wiggins was moved back to the bench as a backup point guard after the Lynx traded for all-starLindsay Whalen. In June 2010, Wiggins ruptured herAchilles tendon with just eight seconds remaining in a game against theNew York Liberty; the injury ended her season after eight games.^[11]

Wiggins returned to action in 2011 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. In October 2011, Wiggins won her first WNBA championship after the Lynx defeated theAtlanta Dream in the Finals.^{[citation needed]}

On March 1, 2013, Wiggins was traded to theTulsa Shock in a three-team deal.^[12]

Wiggins signed with theLos Angeles Sparks on April 2, 2014.^[13]

On March 9, 2015, Wiggins signed with theNew York Liberty.^[14]

On March 22, 2016, Wiggins announced her retirement from the WNBA after eight seasons.^[15] 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.^[15]

In a 2017 interview withThe 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 beenbullied 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:

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."^[16][17]

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."^[18]

Wiggins was a member of theUSA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship inMayaguez, 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.^[19]

Wiggins continued with the team as it became the U19 team, and competed in the 2005 U19 World Championships inTunis,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.^[20]

Wiggins was invited to try out for the United States Senior National Team and was named as an injury replacement or alternate. Along withCandace Parker andCourtney Paris, she was one of the only college players to be named to the team. She spent the summer of 2007 playing inChile with different United States National teams and was eventually named United States Basketball Female Athlete of The Year for 2007.^{[21][better source needed]}

Wiggins was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009.^[22] 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.^[22]

In 2011, Wiggins was again chosen for the national team initial training camps, from whichUSA Basketball would select the team to represent the US in the 2012 Olympics,^[23] though Wiggins was ultimately not selected for the senior national team.

In September 2013 and November 2014, Wiggins traveled toNicaragua and thenChile as aSportsUnited Sports Envoy for theU.S. Department of State. In this function, she worked withJennifer Lacy andAlex English to conduct basketball clinics and events for more than 850 youth and women from underserved areas.^[24][25]

• 2008 WNBA draft

• Stanford Univ. Athletic Profile
• Career statistics fromWNBA.com and Basketball Reference 
• Candice Wiggins onTwitter

• 1987 births
• Living people
• All-American college women's basketball players
• American expatriate basketball people in Greece
• American expatriate basketball people in Spain
• American women's basketball players
• Basketball players at the 2007 Pan American Games
• Delta Sigma Theta members
• Guards (basketball)
• Los Angeles Sparks players
• McDonald's High School All-Americans
• Minnesota Lynx draft picks
• Minnesota Lynx players
• New York Liberty players
• Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball)
• Ros Casares Valencia players
• Stanford Cardinal women's basketball players
• Participants in American reality television series
• Tulsa Shock players
• Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
• Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in basketball
• Basketball players from Baltimore
• Basketball players from San Diego
• 21st-century American sportswomen
• 21st-century African-American sportswomen
• United States women's national basketball team players

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