Jennifer Gillom

Jennifer Gillom
Personal information
Born (1964-06-13) June 13, 1964
Abbeville, Mississippi
Nationality American
Career information
High school Lafayette (Oxford, Mississippi)
College Ole Miss (1982–1986)
Playing career 1997–2003
Coaching career 2004–present
Career history
As player:
19972002 Phoenix Mercury
2003 Los Angeles Sparks
As coach:
2004–2010 Xavier College Preparatory
2008 Minnesota Lynx (assistant)
2009 Minnesota Lynx
20102011 Los Angeles Sparks
2012 Washington Mystics (assistant)
20132015 Connecticut Sun (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Jennifer "Grandmama" Gillom (born June 13, 1964) is an American former WNBA basketball player who played for the Phoenix Mercury from 1997 to 2002, before finishing her playing career with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2003. Gillom is also a former Sparks head coach, also coached the Minnesota Lynx; and was, until 2015, an assistant coach of the Connecticut Sun.

Born in Abbeville, Mississippi, Gillom played college basketball at the University of Mississippi and helped the United States Basketball Team to a gold medal in women's basketball in the 1988 Summer Olympics.[1] Gillom signed with the Mercury in 1996 where she was All-WNBA in 1998 and won the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award in her final season.

Gillom was the head coach of the Xavier College Preparatory High School basketball team in Phoenix, Arizona in 2004. Starting in the 2008 season, Gillom served as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx. In June 2009, she was named head coach of the team. She succeeded Don Zierden, who resigned to accept an assistant coaching job under the late Flip Saunders of the Washington Wizards.

In 2009, Gillom was elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee.[2]

USA Basketball

Player

Gillom played for the USA World University Games team in Kobe, Japan in 1985. The team brought home a silver medal, after falling to the USSR. The team trailed by 18 points at one time, mounted a come-back attempt but fell short, losing 87–81. Gillom was the second leading scorer for the USA team, with 12.8 points per game.[3] The following year, Gillom played for the USA team at the World Championships, in Moscow. This time, the USA team would meet the USSR in the title game and emerge victorious, winning the gold medal with a score of 108–88. Gillom averaged 2.8 points per game.[4]

Gillom was named to the team representing the USA at the 1987 Pan American Games, held in Indianapolis, Indiana in August. The USA team won all four of their games winning the gold medal for the event. She averaged 9.5 points per game.[5] Gillom continued with the national team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, held in September. The team won all five games which resulted in the gold medal. Gillom averaged 2.8 points per game.[1]

Coach

Gillom was named assistant coach of the USA National team in preparation for competition in the 2010 World Championships and 2012 Olympics. Because many team members were still playing in the WNBA until just prior to the event, the team had only one day of practice with the entire team before leaving for Ostrava and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. Even with limited practice, the team managed to win their first game against Greece by 26 points. The team continued to dominate with victory margins exceeding 20 points in the first five games. Several players shared scoring honors, with Swin Cash, Angel McCoughtry, Maya Moore, Diana Taurasi, Lindsay Whalen, and Sylvia Fowles all ending as high scorer in the first few games. The sixth game was against undefeated Australia—the USA jumped out to a 24-point lead, but the Australian team cut the lead back to single digits late in the game. The USA prevailed 83–75. The USA won their next two games by over thirty points, then faced the host team, the Czech Republic, in the championship game. The USA team had only a five-point lead at halftime, which was cut to three points, but the Czechs never got closer, and went on to win the championship and gold medal.[6]

She continued as an assistant at the 2012 Olympics in London.[7]

Career statistics

WNBA Career Totals

Year Team G GS MIN FGM FGA FTM FTA 3PTM 3PTA REB AST STL TO BLK PTS
1997 PHX 28 28 874 163 376 94 121 20 65 151 21 37 58 15 440
1998 PHX 30 30 962 228 492 137 195 31 82 219 42 50 89 10 624
1999 PHX 32 32 1,095 163 428 141 177 18 72 184 54 37 87 7 485
2000 PHX 30 30 826 139 316 79 106 19 69 116 45 21 59 29 376
2001 PHX 32 32 858 150 355 71 96 24 70 127 35 31 71 19 395
2002 PHX 31 31 874 166 400 105 131 36 93 116 37 29 61 21 473
2003 LA 33 10 397 40 97 16 21 7 26 55 21 16 9 3 103
Totals 216 193 5,886 1,049 2,464 643 847 155 477 968 255 221 434 104 2,896

WNBA Career Averages

Year Team MIN FG% FT% 3PT% REB AST STL TO BLK PTS
1997 PHX 31.2 .434 .777 .308 5.4 0.8 1.3 2.0 0.5 15.7
1998 PHX 32.1 .463 .703 .378 7.3 1.4 1.7 3.0 0.3 20.8
1999 PHX 34.2 .381 .797 .250 5.8 1.7 1.2 2.7 0.2 15.2
2000 PHX 27.5 .440 .745 .275 3.9 1.5 0.7 2.0 1.0 12.5
2001 PHX 26.8 .423 .740 .343 4.0 1.1 1.0 2.2 0.6 12.3
2002 PHX 28.2 .415 .802 .387 3.7 1.2 0.9 2.0 0.7 15.3
2003 LA 12.0 .412 .762 .269 1.7 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.1 3.1
Totals 27.3 .426 .759 .325 4.5 1.2 1.0 2.0 0.5 13.4

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Games of the XXIVth Olympiad -- 1988". USA Basketball. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
  2. "WBHOF Inductees". WBHOF. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
  3. "Thirteenth World University Games -- 1985". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  4. "TENTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN -- 1986". USA Basketball. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
  5. "Tenth Pan American Games -- 1987". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  6. "SIXTEENTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN -- 2010". USA Basketball. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  7. "Doug Bruno, Jennifer Gillom, Marynell Meadors Return To USA Basketball As 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Assistant Coaches". USA Basketball. Jan 20, 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
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