Athletes

Now playing for the 2008 WNBA champion Detroit Shock, Taj McWilliams-Franklin currently ranks sixth in WNBA defensive rebounds. During the 2007 season, McWilliams-Franklin was named to her sixth WNBA All-Star team. During her season with the Los Angeles Sparks, she played in 29 games, averaged 11.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and shot 77.3 percent from the free throw line. In her 2006 career season, she set single-season franchise records for total rebounds with 306, defensive rebounds with 202, rebound average with 9.6 and double-doubles with 12. During this season, her rebound average would be No.2 in the league and her rebound total, No. 3 in the league. She would also hold the franchise-record for rebounds per game with 17. Within this same year, McWilliams-Franklin was named WNBA Player of the Week twice. She was named to the 2006 All-WNBA Second Team. In 2005, she set single-season for rebounds with 248 and defensive rebounds with 170. She led the Connecticut Suns (formerly Orlando Miracle) in rebounding 16 times. Her scoring average was the second best on the Sun. She would become the 22nd player to reach 2,500 career points. In 2005, she was also the recipient of the 2005 Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award. She was named to the All-WNBA Second Team and the All-Defensive Second Team. During the playoffs that year, she led her team in scoring average with 15.9 points per game. She led all players in the WNBA finals with 12.3 rebounds per game. In her 2004 season, McWilliams-Franklin was Connecticut’s leading rebounder and second leading scorer. She started in all 68 regular-season games and was ranked top 10 in WNBA in 12 different categories. During the 2004 playoffs, she led the Sun in rebounds with 59 and steals with 13. She set the team’s postseason record for offensive rebounds with six. In 2003, she led the Sun in rebounds and blocked shots. During the 2001 season, McWilliams-Franklin became the only Orlando Miracle (currently Connecticut Sun) to start every single game in her career. She also set a new Miracle franchise record by having 10 offensive rebounds in a game. In 1999 she was named to the 1999 Eastern Conference All-Star Team. McWilliams-Franklin played with the Shinhan Bank S-Birds in South Korea during the 2005-2006 offseason. During the 2004 offseason, she played for the Gambrinus JME Brno of the Czech Republic. She has played in Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Greece and Israel. She was drafted by the Richmond-Philadelphia Rage of the American Basketball League in 1996, where she played three seasons. She led the American Basketball League in blocks with 1.5 per game. She was a member of the 1997 All-ABL second team. She completed the 1996-97 season ranked first in the ABL in blocked shots with 1.5, second in rebounds with 8.5. During her college career, McWilliams-Franklin was named NAIA National Player of the Year and selected to the Kodak NAIA All-America team. She set records at St. Edwards for career scoring with 1,837 points, most points scored for a single season with 760, highest scoring average with 24.5 points per game and highest field goal percentage with .640. She would graduate with a degree in English writing and rhetoric from St. Edwards in 1993 after transferring from Georgia State in 1990. (9/08)