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Jessica Shepard

{{Short description|American basketball player (born 1996)}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Jessica Shepard

| image = Jessica Shepard Lynx Jersey.jpg

| position = Forward

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 4

| weight_lbs = 175

| league = WNBA

| team = Minnesota Lynx

| number = 15

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1996|9|11}}

| birth_place = Fremont, Nebraska, U.S.

| high_school = *Lincoln Southeast (Lincoln, Nebraska)

| college = *Nebraska (2015–2017)

| draft_league = WNBA

| draft_year = 2019

| draft_round = 2

| draft_pick = 16

| draft_team = Minnesota Lynx

| career_start = 2019

| career_end =

| years1 = {{WNBA Year|2019}}–{{WNBA Year|2023}}

| team1 = Minnesota Lynx

| years2 = 2021–2022

| team2 = Dinamo Sassari

| years3 = 2022–2024

| team3 = Reyer Venezia

| years4 = 2024–2025

| team4 = Athinaikos

| years5 = {{WNBA Year|2025}}–present

| team5 = Minnesota Lynx

| highlights =

|show-medals=no

|medaltemplates={{MedalSport |Women's Basketball}}

{{MedalCountry | {{USA}} }}

{{MedalCompetition|FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship}}

{{MedalGold|2014 United States|Team}}

}}

Jessica Shepard (born September 11, 1996) is an American-Slovenian professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Shepard began her college career at Nebraska, playing there for two seasons before transferring to Notre Dame to complete her career. She was drafted 16th overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2019 WNBA draft.

Family and early years

A Fremont, Nebraska native, Shepard is the daughter of Mark and Kim Shepard.{{cite web|url=https://und.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=8541|title=Jessica Shepard|publisher=University of Notre Dame |accessdate=April 24, 2019}} She has four sisters and one older brother. Shepard won a state title while attending Lincoln Southeast High School in 2013, and finished her high school career at Fremont.{{Cite web |last=writers |first=Stu Pospisil, Mike Patterson and Nick Rubek / World-Herald staff |title=Notes: Fremont's Jessica Shepard named All-American; more |url=https://omaha.com/sports/notes-fremont-s-jessica-shepard-named-all-american-more/article_26932331-f5ba-5186-a0f3-32b89b08800d.html |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=Omaha World-Herald |date=3 June 2015 |language=en}}

WNBA

=Minnesota Lynx (2019–present)=

Shepard was selected 16th overall in the 2nd round of the 2019 WNBA Draft. Shepard appeared in 5 games of the 2019 season, and averaged 4.6 ppg. On June 8, 2019, in a game against the Los Angeles Sparks, it was determined Shepard had torn her ACL, effectively ending her rookie season.{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/26936548/lynx-f-shepard-rest-season-torn-acl |title=Lynx F Shepard out rest of season with torn ACL |agency=Associated Press |publisher=ESPN |date=June 9, 2019 |accessdate=June 11, 2019}}

Shepard missed the 2020 season as she continued to recovery from her ACL injury that she sustained in 2019.{{cite web |last1=Hansen |first1=Mitchell |title=Minnesota Lynx Announce Final Roster Moves Ahead of 2020 WNBA Season |url=https://zonecoverage.com/2020/lynx/minnesota-lynx-announce-final-roster-moves-ahead-of-2020-wnba-season/ |website=zonecoverage.com |date=27 May 2020 |publisher=Zone Coverage |access-date=7 July 2021}}

Shepard was suspended for and subsequently missed the entire 2024 season. This was due to contract commitments with her basketball club in Italy, Umana Reyer Venezia and violating the WNBA collective bargaining agreement which requires players to prioritize the WNBA over other international leagues.{{cite web | url=https://www.si.com/fannation/bringmethesports/minnesota-lynx/lynxs-jessica-shepard-to-miss-2024-season | title=Lynx's Jessica Shepard to miss 2024 season | date=31 January 2024 }}

On April 21, 2025, Shepard re-signed with the Lynx.{{Cite web |title=Minnesota Lynx Re-Sign Jessica Shepard |url=https://lynx.wnba.com/news/minnesota-lynx-re-sign-jessica-shepard |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=lynx.wnba.com |language=en}}

National team career

On June 19, 2024, the Basketball Federation of Slovenia announced that Shepard had received Slovenian citizenship and became eligible to play for the Slovenia women's national basketball team.{{Cite web |title=Josh Nebo receives Slovenian passport, will join men's team |url=https://basketnews.com/news-207850-josh-nebo-receives-slovenian-passport-will-join-mens-team.html |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=basketnews.com |language=en}}

WNBA career statistics

{{WNBA player statistics legend}}

=Regular season=

{{WNBA player statistics start}}

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2019

| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota

| 6 || 0 || 18.7 || .379 || .143 || .750 || 5.7 || 3.5 || 0.3 || 0.2 || 2.5 || 4.8

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2021

| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota

| 22 || 0 || 10.5 || .364 || .083 || .750 || 3.2 || 1.7 || 0.1 || 0.2 || 0.8 || 2.0

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2022

| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota

| 36 || 22 || 26.1 || .500 || .250 || .734 || 7.4 || 3.0 || 0.4 || 0.3 || 1.7 || 8.1

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| 2023

| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota

| 21 || 17 || 26.9 || .516 || .000 || .774 || 7.0 || 3.1 || 0.6 || 0.1 || 1.4 || 8.1

|-

| style="text-align:left;"| Career

| style="text-align:left;"| 4 years, 1 team

| 85 || 39 || 21.8 || .482 || .178 || .749 || 6.1 || 2.7 || 0.4 || 0.2 || 1.5 || 6.3

{{s-end}}

Nebraska and Notre Dame statistics

Source{{Cite web|url=http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careerplayer|title=NCAA Statistics|website=web1.ncaa.org|access-date=2021-05-25}}

{{WNBA player statistics legend}}

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Team

!GP

!Points

!FG%

!3P%

!FT%

!RPG

!APG

!SPG

!BPG

!PPG

2015–16

|Nebraska

|31

|574

|51.0%

|0.0%

|58.1%

|8.6

|1.9

|0.6

|0.6

|18.5

2016–17

|Nebraska

|29

|538

|40.8%

|31.5%

|55.7%

|9.8

|1.9

|0.5

|0.2

|18.6

2017–18

|Notre Dame

|38

|594

|56.5%

|0.0%

|67.9%

|8.1

|2.4

|0.8

|0.7

|15.6

2018–19

|Notre Dame

|38

|634

|59.4%

|0.0%

|71.0%

|10.3

|3.3

|1.4

|0.5

|16.7

Career

|

|136

|2340

|51.6%

|29.5%

|62.4%

|9.2

|2.4

|0.9

|0.5

|17.2

Notes

{{reflist|30em}}

External links

  • {{Basketballstats}}

{{Minnesota Lynx current roster}}

{{2019 WNBA draft}}

{{2018 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Jessica}}

Category:1996 births

Category:Living people

Category:All-American college women's basketball players

Category:American women's basketball players

Category:Basketball players from Nebraska

Category:Forwards (basketball)

Category:Minnesota Lynx draft picks

Category:Minnesota Lynx players

Category:Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball players

Category:Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball players

Category:People from Fremont, Nebraska

Category:21st-century American sportswomen