Tonya Edwards
{{Short description|American basketball player and coach (born 1968)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = Tonya Edwards
| image =
| position =
| league = WNBA
| team =
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 10
| weight_lb = 160
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|3|13}}
| birth_place = Flint, Michigan, U.S.
| high_school = Flint Northwestern (Flint, Michigan)
| college = Tennessee (1986–1990)
| draft_year = 1999
| draft_round = 1
| draft_pick = 7
| draft_team = Minnesota Lynx
| draft_league = WNBA
| career_number =
| career_position = Guard
| career_start = 1999
| career_end = 2002
| coach_start = 1990
| coach_end =
| years1 = 1996–1998
| team1 = Columbus Quest
| years2 = {{WNBA Year|1999}}
| team2 = Minnesota Lynx
| years3 = {{WNBA Year|2000}}–{{WNBA Year|2001}}
| team3 = Phoenix Mercury
| years4 = {{WNBA Year|2001}}–{{WNBA Year|2002}}
| team4 = Charlotte Sting
| cyears1 = 1990–1995
| cteam1 = Northwestern Community HS
| cyears2 = 2005
| cteam2 = Chicago Blaze
| cyears3 = 2006–2008
| cteam3 = Detroit (assistant)
| cyears4 = 2008–2015
| cteam4 = Alcorn State
| cyears5 = {{WNBA Year|2016}}–{{WNBA Year|2018}}
| cteam5 = Los Angeles Sparks (assistant)
| cyears6 = {{WNBA Year|2021}}–{{WNBA Year|2023}}
| cteam6 = Chicago Sky (assistant)
| highlights = As player:
- WNBA All-Star (1999)
- 2× NCAA champion (1987, 1989)
- NCAA Tournament MOP (1987)
- First-team All-SEC (1990)
- SEC All-Freshman Team (1987)
As head coach:
- SWAC coach of the year (2011)
As assistant coach:
- 2x WNBA champion (2016, 2021)
| bbr_wnba = edwarto01w
| medal_templates = {{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|Jones Cup| Team Competition}}
{{MedalGold|1987 Taipei| Team Competition}}
{{MedalSilver|1988 Taipei| Team Competition}}
}}
Tonya LaRay Edwards (born March 13, 1968) is an American retired professional basketball player born in Flint, Michigan, who was most recently an assistant coach of the Chicago Sky in the WNBA.{{cite news| url=https://sky.wnba.com/news/former-wnba-all-star-tonya-edwards-joins-sky-coaching-staff/ | work=WNBA | title=Former WNBA All-Star Tonya Edwards Joins Sky Coaching Staff | date=March 22, 2021 | accessdate=May 5, 2021}} She was previously head coach of the Alcorn State Lady Braves basketball team.
Professional career
{{BLP sources section|date=July 2023}}
After graduating from college, there were no opportunities to play professional basketball in the U.S., so Edwards played professionally in Italy from 1991 to 1992, Turkey in 1994, and Israel from 1995 to 1996. In the Autumn of 1996, she played for the Columbus Quest in the American Basketball League (ABL), and won two championship titles with them. In 1998, Edwards became the interim head coach for the Quest after coach Brian Agler resigned. After the ABL folded due to financial difficulties, Edwards was selected by the Minnesota Lynx in the 1999 WNBA draft.{{Cite web |title=1999 WNBA Draft |url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/draft/1999.html |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=Basketball-Reference.com |language=en}} She also played for the Phoenix Mercury and Charlotte Sting.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
Edwards began her coaching career by returning to her alma mater, Northwestern Community High School in Flint, Michigan, for five seasons (1990–1995). She guided her team to the 1993 state championship with perfect 28–0 record, a 1992 state champion runner-up finish, and compiled a 78-23 overall record (.772). She was named 1993 "High School Coach of the Year" in the state of Michigan.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
In 2004, she became a radio commentator for the Phoenix Mercury games, and later became an assistant coach in the National Women's Basketball League.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
In 2006, she was inducted to the Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame. That same year, she was named as an assistant coach to the women's basketball team at University of Detroit Mercy.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
After two years at Detroit, Edwards was head coach at Alcorn State from 2008 to 2015. Edwards was SWAC Coach of the Year in 2011 and led Alcorn State to the SWAC Championship Game in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.wnba.com/news/18797/|title=Sparks Name Tonya Edwards As Assistant Coach|publisher=WNBA|date=March 16, 2016|access-date=July 27, 2017}} In seven seasons, Edwards went 60–147 at Alcorn State.{{cite web |url=http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careersearch |title = NCAA® Career Statistics}} On March 23, 2015, Alcorn State announced it would not extend Edwards' contract, which expired at the end of the month.{{cite web|url=http://www.alcornsports.com/news/2015/3/23/MBB_0323150224.aspx?path=mbball|title=Alcorn basketball coaches' contracts not extended|publisher=Alcorn State University Athletics|date=March 23, 2015|access-date=July 27, 2017}}
Career statistics
{{WNBA player statistics legend}}
=WNBA=
==Regular season==
{{WNBA player statistics start}}
|-
| align="left" | 1999
| align="left" | Minnesota
| 32 || 32 || 32.2 || .357 || .344 || .806 || 3.5 || 2.6 || 0.8 || 0.4 || 2.1 || 14.8
|-
| align="left" | 2000
| align="left" | Phoenix
| 32 || 32 || 28.9 || .376 || .307 || .782 || 2.4 || 1.8 || 1.1 || 0.3 || 2.0 || 10.6
|-
| align="left" | 2001
| align="left" | Phoenix
| 10 || 9 || 20.8 || .366 || .357 || .787 || 1.9 || 1.8 || 0.5 || 0.1 || 2.2 || 9.4
|-
| align="left" | 2001
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 22 || 0 || 16.9 || .340 || .227 || .730 || 2.0 || 1.4 || 0.6 || 0.3 || 1.8 || 4.5
|-
| align="left" | 2002
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 29 || 0 || 10.4 || .364 || .280 || .717 || 1.4 || 0.8 || 0.6 || 0.1 || 0.6 || 3.9
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" | 4 years, 3 teams
| 125 || 73 || 22.7 || .362 || .322 || .775 || 2.3 || 1.7 || 0.8 || 0.2 || 1.7 || 9.0
{{S-end}}
==Playoffs==
{{WNBA player statistics start}}
|-
| align="left" | 2000
| align="left" | Phoenix
| 2 || 2 || 30.5 || .250 || .231 || .667 || 3.0 || 2.5 || 2.0 || 0.0 || 1.0 || 8.5
|-
| align="left" | 2001
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 8 || 0 || 14.9 || .429 || .500 || 1.000 || 2.0 || 1.5 || 0.6 || 0.0 || 1.4 || 2.8
|-
| align="left" | 2002
| align="left" | Charlotte
| 2 || 0 || 9.5 || .200 || .333 || .000 || 0.5 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.5 || 1.5
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" | 3 years, 2 teams
| 12 || 2 || 16.6 || .326 || .300 || .600 || 1.9 || 1.5 || 0.8 || 0.0 || 1.2 || 3.5
{{S-end}}
= College =
{{WNBA player statistics start}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | 1987–88
| style="text-align:left;" | Tennessee
|34||-||-||45.8||50.0||75.2||4.9||3.3||2.3||0.3||-||12.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | 1988–89
| style="text-align:left;" | Tennessee
|20||-||-||45.0||11.1||79.7||3.0||3.4||2.3||0.2||-||9.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | 1989–90
| style="text-align:left;" | Tennessee
|33||-||-||41.9||36.8||76.1||3.2||3.4||1.7||0.1||-||11.3
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 | Career
|87||-||-||44.2||36.1||76.4||3.8||3.3||2.1||0.2||-||11.6
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center;" colspan="14"|Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/Tonya-Edwards-1.html|title=Tonya Edwards College Stats|publisher=Sports-Reference|accessdate=July 7, 2024}}
{{s-end}}
USA Basketball
Edwards was named to the team representing the US at the 1987 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan. The team won all seven games to win the gold medal for the event. The USA was down at halftime in the opening game against Japan, but came back in the second half to win, helped by 15 points from Campbell. Edwards was the second leading scorer on the team, averaging 12.4 points per game over the seven games. She was one of three players from the USA team to be named to the Jones Cup All-Tournament Team.
In the following year, 1988, Edwards was also named to the Jones Cup team. The USA team was not as successful, with a 3–2 record, but that was enough to secure the silver medal. Edwards was the leading scorer on the team, averaging 15.4 points per game, and tied for the team lead in steals with 15.
Head coaching record
Edwards' score are as following:{{cite web| url = http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/conferences/standings/_/id/26/swac-conference| title = Southwestern Athletic Conference Standings - Women's College Basketball - ESPN}}
{{CBB yearly record start | type = coach | conference = | postseason= }}
{{CBB Yearly Record Subhead
| name =Alcorn State Lady Braves
| conference=Southwestern Athletic Conference
| startyear =2008
| endyear =2015
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2008–09
| name = Alcorn State
| overall = 5–26
| conference = 4–14
| confstanding = 10th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2009–10
| name = Alcorn State
| overall = 8–20
| conference = 8–10
| confstanding = T–6th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2010–11
| name = Alcorn State
| overall = 13–15
| conference = 12–6
| confstanding = 3rd
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2011–12
| name = Alcorn State
| overall = 14–20
| conference = 9–9
| confstanding = 7th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2012–13
| name = Alcorn State
| overall = 2–26
| conference = 2–16
| confstanding = 10th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2013–14
| name = Alcorn State
| overall = 8–22
| conference = 7–11
| confstanding = T–7th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record entry
| championship =
| season = 2014–15
| name = Alcorn State
| overall = 10–18
| conference = 9–9
| confstanding = 6th
| postseason =
}}
{{CBB yearly record subtotal
| name = Alcorn State
| overall = 60–147
| confrecord = 51–75
}}
{{CBB yearly record end
| overall = 60–147
| legend=no
}}
References
{{Reflist|refs=
}}
Sources
- [http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/tonya_edwards/index.html WNBA Player Profile]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929012246/http://www.detroittitans.com/wbasketball.jsp?id=1157996758365 September 11, 2006 press release on Edwards joining the University of Detroit Mercy coaching staff]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090202093323/http://flint.lib.mi.us/hallfame/06/TonyaEdwards.htm Profile from the Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame]
{{navboxes|list=
{{NCAA basketball tournament MOP women}}
{{1987 Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball navbox}}
{{1989 Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball navbox}}
{{1999 WNBA draft}}
{{Southwestern Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Coach of the Year navbox}}
{{Los Angeles Sparks 2016 WNBA Champions}}
{{Chicago Sky 2021 WNBA champions}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Tonya}}
Category:Basketball players from Flint, Michigan
Category:American women's basketball coaches
Category:American women's basketball players
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Israel
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Spain
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Turkey
Category:Alcorn State Lady Braves basketball coaches
Category:Charlotte Sting players
Category:Columbus Quest players
Category:Detroit Mercy Titans women's basketball coaches
Category:Fenerbahçe women's basketball players
Category:Los Angeles Sparks coaches
Category:Minnesota Lynx draft picks
Category:Minnesota Lynx players
Category:Phoenix Mercury players
Category:Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball players