Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Player Profile: Betty Lennox



Name: Betty Lennox
Born: December 4, 1976 (age 32)
Place of Birth: Hugo, Oklahoma
Height: 5-8 (1.73 m) (but she's actually 5-6, or about 1.68 m)
Weight: 143 (64.9 kg)

High School: Fort Osage High School, Independence, Missouri
Colleges: Trinity Valley Community College
Louisiana Tech (graduated 2000)

Years Pro: 8

Position: Point guard

Kudos:
1) Trinity Valley won the Junior College National Championship in the 1996-97 season.
2) Was a first round draft pick in 2000 by the NBA, picked by the Minnesota Lynx at #6
3) Led the Seattle Storm to an NBA championship in 2004.
4) WNBA Finals MVP in 2004
5) Received a Community Assist award from the WNBA.
6) Founder of the Lennox Foundation, created to support neglected and abused children.

Nickname: B-Money -- this is an improvement over her college nickname of "Psycho". She's called "B-Money" due to her shooting percentage -- having her shoot is "money in the bank".

Profile:

Betty "B-Money" Lennox comes by her name honestly -- growing up the eighth of nine children, she quickly learned the value of a dollar, having to load 30 to 40 pount bales into a truck at age 10 at four cents per bale. Knowing that her life offered no easy street, Lennox became hypercompetitive.

In high school, they were still playing a six-on-six game in girls' basketball. It was half-court ball, three on offense, and three on defense.

Moving to college, she had to learn how to play standard basketball. In college, she wasn't hesitant to mix it up with bigger players. She was known as a trash talker.

In the WNBA, she had a reputation for being uncoachable, as well as "streaky" and being a "ball hog". She's also been rather unfortunate, playing for two WNBA franchises that folded (Cleveland and Miami). However, she led the Storm to a WNBA championship in 2004. She is a self-proclaimed gym rat, which accounts for her buffed-up physique. She has tattoos, and says that she regrets getting them.

Lennox has worked for Habitat for Humanity, serving a full internship from 2006-2007 over the winter. In the early part of 2008, she played for a Russian team before joining the Storm.

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