Shavonte Zellous

{{Short description|American-Croatian basketball player (born 1986)}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Shavonte Zellous

| image = WNBA_Washington_Mystics_vs._Dallas_Wings,_Aug_26_2021_DSC06584_(51411380369).jpg

| league = Ligue Féminine de Basketball

| team = ESB Villeneuve-d'Ascq

| number = 1

| position = Shooting guard

| nationality = American / Croatian

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 10

| weight_lbs = 188

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1986|08|28}}

| birth_place =

| high_school = Jones (Orlando, Florida)

| college = Pittsburgh (2005–2009)

| draft_league = WNBA

| draft_year = 2009

| draft_round = 1

| draft_pick = 11

| draft_team = Detroit Shock

| career_start = 2009

| career_end =

| years1 = {{WNBA Year|2009}}

| team1 = Detroit Shock

| years2 = 2009–2010

| team2 = Beşiktaş J.K.

| years3 = 2010

| team3 = Tulsa Shock

| years4 = {{WNBA Year|2010}}–{{WNBA Year|2015}}

| team4 = Indiana Fever

| years5 = 2010–2011

| team5 = TTT Riga

| years6 = 2011

| team6 = Ramat HaSharon

| years7 = 2011–2013

| team7 = Mersin BB

| years8 = 2013–2014

| team8 = Galatasaray S.K.

| years9 = 2014–2015

| team9 = Fenerbahçe S.K.

| years10 = {{WNBA Year|2016}}–{{WNBA Year|2018}}

| team10 = New York Liberty

| years11 = 2016–2018

| team11 = Beşiktaş J.K.

| years12 = 2018–2019

| team12 = Bnot Herzliya

| years13 = {{WNBA Year|2019}}

| team13 = Seattle Storm

| years14 = 2020–2021

| team14 = Çankaya University

| years15 = {{WNBA Year|2021}}

| team15 = Washington Mystics

| years16 = 2021

| team16 = Çukurova Basketbol

| years17 = 2022

| team17 = ES Cap Bon

| years18 = 2022–2023

| team18 = Çankaya University

| years19 = 2023–present

| team19 = ESB Villeneuve-d'Ascq

| highlights =

WNBA champion (2012)
WNBA All-Star (2013)
WNBA Most Improved Player (2013)
WNBA All-Rookie Team (2009)
Latvian National League champion (2011)
Turkish National League champion (2014)
French National League champion (2024)
EuroLeague Women champion (2014)
2× Turkish Cup winner (2014, 2015)
Turkish President Cup winner (2015)
Third-team All-American – AP (2009)
3x First-team All-Big East (2007–2009)
Big East Most Improved Player (2007)

| wnba_profile = shavonte_zellous

| bbr_wnba = zellosh01w

| letter = z

}}

Shavonte Zellous (born August 28, 1986) is an American-Croatian professional basketball player who plays for ESB Villeneuve-d'Ascq of the Ligue Féminine de Basketball. She was a standout basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh. Zellous was drafted 11th in the first round of the 2009 WNBA draft by the Detroit Shock.

Professional career

As a rookie in 2009, Zellous ranked second among rookies in points (11.9), was second overall in the league in free throws made (155) and averaged 1.8 assists per game.{{cite web| url=http://www.wnba.com/news/awards09_allrookie.html | title=WNBA Names 2009 adidas All-Rookie Team | date=September 24, 2009 | publisher=WNBA.com | access-date=October 5, 2009}} Zellous scored in double digits in 21 of the 34 games played during her first season and earned honors by making the WNBA All-Rookie Team, the lowest draft selection to ever make the All-Rookie team up until that point.{{cite web | url=http://www.wnba.com/shock/news/zellous_090924.html | last=Pretzer | first=Ryan | title=Recognition for the Rookie | publisher=Detroitshock.com| date=September 24, 2009 | access-date=October 5, 2009}} Zellous was a member of the Indiana Fever team that won the WNBA championship in 2012 and was named a WNBA All-Star in 2013.{{Cite web|title=Former Pitt Star Shavonte Zellous Named to WNBA All-Star Team|url=https://pittsburghpanthers.com/story.aspx?filename=ormer_itt_tar_havonte_ellous_amed_to__ll_tar_eam&file_date=7-24-2013|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Pitt Panthers #H2P|language=en}}

In 2013, Zellous almost doubled her scoring average, from 7.5 ppg in 2012 to 14.7 ppg in 2013. This improvement, coupled with increases in rebounding and shooting percentage helped her to win the WNBA Most-Improved player award in 2013.{{cite web|last=Michaelson|first=Lee|date=September 22, 2013|title=Fever's Zellous is 2013 WNBA Most Improved Player|url=http://www.fullcourt.com/wnba/24066/fevers-zellous-2013-wnba-most-improved-player|work=FullCourt.com|publisher=Lee Michaelson|access-date=23 Sep 2013}}

On February 1, 2016, Zellous signed with the New York Liberty.{{Cite news|url=http://www.wnba.com/news/new-york-liberty-shavonte-zellous-carolyn-swords/|title=Liberty Signs Shavonte Zellous and Carolyn Swords - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA|work=WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA|access-date=2017-08-30|language=en-US}} Her WNBA averages include 39.5% in Field Goals, 80.3% in free throws, and 9.2 PPG.{{cite web |url=http://www.wnba.com/player/shavonte-zellous/ |title=Shavonte Zellous stats |access-date=25 September 2016}}

On April 11, 2019, Zellous signed with the Seattle Storm.{{Cite news|url=https://storm.wnba.com/news/seattle-storm-signs-free-agent-guard-shavonte-zellous/|title=Seattle Storm Signs Free Agent Guard Shavonte Zellous - Storm.WNBA.com - Official Site of the Seattle Storm|work=storm.wnba.com - Official Site of the Seattle Storm|access-date=2019-05-18|language=en-US}}

On March 31, 2021, Zellous signed with the Washington Mystics, appearing in 28 games during the season.{{Cite web |title=MYSTICS SIGN SHAVONTE ZELLOUS |url=https://mystics.wnba.com/news/mystics-sign-shavonte-zellous/ |access-date=2022-05-05 |website=Washington Mystics |language=en}}

College career

While in college, Zellous was a standout guard for the University of Pittsburgh women's basketball team from 2005 to 2009. While there, she helped lead her team to a WNIT "Final Four" in 2006 and three straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2007 to 2009, during which her team advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" in 2008 and 2009. While at Pitt, she earned Third Team AP All-American honors in 2009 and was the Big East Conference Most Improved Player in 2007. Zellous finished her career at Pitt ranked third on the university's all-time scoring list with 2,253 points. Zellous also became the first player in Pitt history (men's or women's) and the ninth in Big East history (men's or women's) to score 600 points in three separate seasons.{{Cite web|title=FORMER PITT GUARD SHAVONTE ZELLOUS TO PLAY IN HER FIRST PROFESSIONAL GAME FOR THE DETROIT SHOCK|url=https://pittsburghpanthers.com/news/2009/6/5/FORMER_PITT_GUARD_SHAVONTE_ZELLOUS_TO_PLAY_IN_HER_FIRST_PROFESSIONAL_GAME_FOR_THE_DETROIT_SHOCK|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Pitt Panthers #H2P|date=June 5, 2009 |language=en}}

International career

In 2015 prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics, Zellous announced she would be playing for the Croatia women's national basketball team.{{cite web|title=Hunting for the Olympics: Shavonte Zellous on the subject for the first time for RTL Danas |url=https://net.hr/sport/lov-na-olimpijske-igre-prvi-put-o-toj-temi-shavonte-zellous-za-rtl-danas-13ee23dc-b9ec-11ec-96d1-0242ac130012 |website=Net HR |date=April 6, 2015 |access-date=June 4, 2025 |language=Croatian}}

Career statistics

=WNBA=

==Regular season==

| align="left" | 2009

| align="left" | Detroit

|34||4||23.6||39.7||30.6||85.6||3.1||1.8||0.8||0.5||2.3||11.9

| align="left" rowspan=2 | 2010

| align="left" | Tulsa

|4||1||16.8||16.1||10.0||83.3||0.8||2.5||0.5||0.0||0.5||4.0

| align="left" | Indiana

|27||0||15.5||36.2||28.0||74.7||2.1||1.3||0.4||0.6||1.2||5.9

| align="left" | 2011

| align="left" | Indiana

|33||2||14.0||43.8||26.5||78.4||2.4||1.4||0.4||0.5||1.0||5.5

| align="left" | 2012

| align="left" | Indiana

|31||31||22.3||36.9||34.5||77.0||2.7||1.7||0.7||0.5||1.4||7.5

| align="left" | 2013

| align="left" | Indiana

|29||29||31.3||41.5||34.8||78.0||3.4||1.7||0.9||0.7||1.9||14.7

| align="left" | 2014

| align="left" | Indiana

|34||33||27.4||41.1||30.5||78.4||2.8||2.1||0.7||0.5||1.6||11.0

| align="left" | 2015

| align="left" | Indiana

|23||1||22.2||37.9||24.1||77.1||2.3||1.9||1.0||0.3||1.2||8.4

| align="left" | 2016

| align="left" | New York

|33||1||23.3||40.3||19.2||85.1||2.5||2.2||0.9||0.2||1.3||8.8

| align="left" | 2017

| align="left" | New York

|34||34||29.1||42.3||33.3||82.3||4.0||2.8||0.9||0.2||1.9||11.7

| align="left" | 2018

| align="left" | New York

|22||22||24.1||42.3||26.7||75.4||3.1||3.0||0.6||0.2||1.2||8.2

| align="left" | 2019

| align="left" | Seattle

|31||4||13.9||37.9||18.8||75.0||1.5||1.5||0.3||0.2||1.1||4.0

| align="left" | 2020

| style="text-align:center;" colspan="13" |Did not play (did not appear in WNBA)

| align="left" | 2021

| align="left" | Washington

|28||5||15.8||37.7||24.4||80.6||2.4||1.6||0.4||0.2||0.8||4.3

| align="left" | Career

| align="left" | 12 years, 6 teams

|363||167||21.9||39.8||29.1||80.1||2.7||1.9||0.7||0.4||1.4||8.5

==Playoffs==

| align="left" | 2009

| align="left" | Detroit

|5||0||29.0||35.3||41.2||85.2||5.0||2.8||1.2||0.6||1.4||15.6

| align="left" | 2010

| align="left" | Indiana

|3||0||10.3||60.0||0.0||85.7||0.7||0.7||0.0||0.3||0.7||4.0

| align="left" | 2011

| align="left" | Indiana

|5||1||19.2||42.9||40.0||60.0||2.6||1.4||0.4||0.6||1.2||8.6

| align="left" | 2012

| align="left" | Indiana

|10||5||27.9||39.8||26.7||85.7||2.9||1.7||0.9||0.8||1.7||10.6

| align="left" | 2013

| align="left" | Indiana

|4||4||26.5||44.7||41.7||92.3||3.8||2.0||0.3||0.5||0.0||12.8

| align="left" | 2014

| align="left" | Indiana

|5||5||35.6||38.9||29.2||75.0||3.4||1.0||0.4||0.8||0.6||14.4

| align="left" | 2015

| align="left" | Indiana

|11||0||21.5||43.8||30.8||80.0||2.4||1.9||0.7||0.5||1.3||7.6

| align="left" | 2016

| align="left" | New York

|1||0||28.0||44.4||0.0||50.0||3.0||1.0||1.0||0.0||0.0||10.0

| align="left" | 2017

| align="left" | New York

|1||1||26.0||14.3||0.0||100.0||6.0||1.0||1.0||0.0||2.0||4.0

| align="left" | 2019

| align="left" | Seattle

|2||0||7.0||33.3||0.0||0.0||0.5||0.5||0.5||0.5||1.0||2.0

| align="left" | Career

| align="left" | 10 years, 4 teams

|47||16||24.3||40.1||32.1||80.5||2.9||1.6||0.7||0.6||1.1||9.9

=College=

Source{{Cite web|url=http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careersearch|title=NCAA® Career Statistics|website=web1.ncaa.org|access-date=2016-05-27}}{{NBA player statistics legend}}

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Team

!GP

!Points

!FG%

!3P%

!FT%

!RPG

!APG

!SPG

!BPG

!PPG

2004–05

|Pittsburgh

| colspan="10" | Redshirt{{Cite web|title=Shavonte Zellous - Women's Basketball|url=https://pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/shavonte-zellous/631|access-date=2021-06-20|website=Pitt Panthers #H2P|language=en}}

2005–06

|Pittsburgh

|33

|254

|39.6

|18.2

|68.7

|5.7

|2.5

|0.8

|7.7

2006–07