Teresa Edwards (born July 19, 1964) In 2010, Edwards was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2013, she was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 2021, Edwards published an autobiographical audio book, Black Gold, about her basketball career, with a focus on her Olympic experiences.
High school
Born in Cairo, Georgia, Edwards attended Cairo High School, where she was a four-year starter. In her junior and senior years, the Syrupmakers were 58–3. She scored 1,982 points in her high school career, and was honored as the Georgia High School Player of the Year in 1982.
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Team
!GP
!Points
!FG%
!FT%
!RPG
!APG
!SPG
!BPG
!PPG
|-
|83
|Georgia
|33
|430
|45.9%
|63.4%
|2.2
|3.0
|2.1
|0.3
|13.0
|-
|84
|Georgia
|33
|465
|52.1%
|78.5%
|2.5
|5.7
|2.5
|0.4
|14.1
|-
|85
|Georgia
|30
|464
|52.7%
|73.4%
|2.8
|6.3
|3.3
|0.4
|15.5
|-
|86
|Georgia
|32
|630
|55.8%
|78.8%
|4.6
|5.5
|2.8
|0.4
|19.7
|-
|Career
|Georgia
|128
|1989
|51.8%
|73.6%
|3.0
|5.1
|2.7
|0.4
|15.5
|}
ABL career
Edwards was the star player and head coach for the Atlanta Glory of the American Basketball League (ABL). She played in the ABL inaugural game between the Glory and the San Jose Lasers, won by the Lasers 78–70.
Edwards played for the Lynx during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Afterwards, her contract expired and she became a free agent. But no other WNBA team offered her a contract for the 2005 season.
In December 2006, Edwards returned to Lynx, as an assistant coach.
Edwards served as an analyst for NBC Sports coverage of Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In 2011, Edwards was named as assistant coach of the Tulsa Shock. She would later become the interim head coach after Nolan Richardson resigned on July 9, 2011.
On March 4, 2014, Edwards was hired by the Atlanta Dream as the assistant coach.
WNBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
| align="left" | 2003
| align="left" | Minnesota
| 34 || 34 || 25.1 || .375 || .300 || .775 || 3.1 || 4.4 || 1.2 || 0.3 || 2.7 || 5.3
|-
| align="left" | 2004
| align="left" | Minnesota
| 34 || 34 || 20.5 || .370 || .294 || .700 || 2.6 || 2.3 || 1.4 || 0.2 || 2.7 || 5.7
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" | 2 years, 1 team
| 68 || 68 || 22.8 || .372 || .297 || .743 || 2.9 || 3.3 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 2.7 || 5.5
Playoffs
|-
| align="left" | 2003
| align="left" | Minnesota
| 3 || 3 || 27.7 || .316 || .333 || 1.000 || 3.3 || 6.3 || 1.7 || 0.3 || 2.7 || 6.7
|-
| align="left" | 2004
| align="left" | Minnesota
| 2 || 2 || 21.5 || .167 || .200 || .750 || 2.5 || 1.0 || 1.5 || 0.5 || 2.0 || 3.0
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" | 2 years, 1 team
| 5 || 5 || 25.2 || .280 || .294 || .875 || 3.0 || 4.2 || 1.6 || 0.4 || 2.4 || 5.2
International career
After Edwards graduated, she played abroad for nine seasons splitting time between Vicenza- Italy, Nagoya- Japan, Spain (Dorna Godella), and France (Tarbes and Valenciennes). Edwards was selected to take the competitors' oath at the Opening Ceremonies in Atlanta (the opening ceremonies took place on her 32nd birthday).
She competed for the United States in international competition a total of 19 times. Her teams won 14 gold medals.
In 1984, the USA sent its National team to the 1984 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan, for pre-Olympic practice. The team easily beat each of the eight teams they played, winning by an average of just under 50 points per game. Edwards averaged 5.5 points per game.
Edwards was a member of the USA National team at the 1990 World Championships, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The team won their opening round games fairly easily, with the closest of the first three games a 27-point victory over Czechoslovakia. Then they faced Cuba, a team that had beaten the US in exhibition matches only a few weeks earlier. The USA team was losing at halftime, but came back to win 87–78. Edwards hit four of her five three-point attempts, and scored 32 points, along with five steals. The USA team found itself behind at halftime to Canada in their next game, but came back to win easily 95–70. After an easy match against Bulgaria, the USA team faced Czechoslovakia again, end achieved an almost identical result, winning 87–59. In the title match, the USA team won the gold medal with a score of 88–78. Edwards led the team in scoring and assists, averaging 21.9 points per game and recording 24 assist for the event.
- 2010: Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
- 2011: NCAA Silver Anniversary Award
- 2013: FIBA Hall of Fame
See also
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists in one event
- List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
Notes
References
External links
- Teresa Edwards at the FIBA Hall of Fame
- Profile from Sports Illustrated "100 Greatest Female Athletes of the 20th Century"
- IOC 1996 Summer Olympics