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Denique Monai Graves (born September 16, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. She played for the Sacramento Monarchs in the Women's National Basketball Association's first season.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 16, 1975 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Listed weight | 212 lb (96 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | University City (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| College | Howard (1993–1997) |
| WNBA draft | 1997: 2nd round, 15th overall pick |
| Selected by the Sacramento Monarchs | |
| Position | Center |
| Number | 33 |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1997 | Sacramento Monarchs |
| As coach: | |
| 2008–2009 | Binghamton (assistant) |
| 2010–2011 | CC of Philadelphia |
| 2012 | Keystone College |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |
Graves left Howard as its fifth all-time leading scorer and fourth all-time leading rebounder.[1][2]
Graves was selected with the 14th overall pick (2nd round, 7th pick) by the Sacramento Monarchs on April 28, 1997. This made her the first player in the WNBA to be drafted from a HBCU (Historically Black College or University). Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 73 - 61 win over the Utah Starzz where she recorded 2 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks in 3 minutes of playing time.[3]
Graves' WNBA career ended up being incredibly short. Her rookie season was not only her only season in the league, but she also hardly saw any playing time, averaging 4.9 minutes a game in 22 games played. After the 1997 season ended, Graves was waived by the Monarchs on May 25, 1998. After missing out on the 1998 and 1999 seasons entirely, Graves was signed as a free agent to the Washington Mystics on May 2, 2000. She was immediately waived a week later on May 11, 2000 and missed out on the 2000 season as well.[4]
Attempting to make another comeback after not playing since the 1997 season, Graves signed a contract with the Orlando Miracle on April 30, 2001. Unfortunately she did not make it past the final round of cuts and was released on May 27, 2001 (one day before the season started).[citation needed] This would be her last attempt at returning to the league and thus her final WNBA game ever was the last game she played in her rookie season in 1997. That game was played on August 24, 1997 and the Monarchs defeated the Houston Comets 68 - 58 with Graves recording one rebound.[5]
She finished her career with totals of 16 points (22% FG Percentage), 15 rebounds and 6 blocks.
At Howard Graves made the Dean's List three years and earned a bachelor's degree in Science. She graduated in 2008. She joined Keystone College's women's basketball coaching staff in 2012.[6]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
WNBA
Source[7]
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Sacramento | 22 | 0 | 3.9 | .222 | – | .500 | .7 | .0 | .0 | .3 | .5 | .7 |
College
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993–94 | Howard | 29 | - | - | 54.0 | 0.0 | 51.9 | 8.8 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.1 | - | 15.1 |
| 1994–95 | Howard | 24 | - | - | 50.8 | 0.0 | 44.9 | 8.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 2.3 | - | 14.0 |
| 1995–96 | Howard | 28 | - | - | 46.7 | 0.0 | 57.7 | 8.9 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 2.6 | - | 14.4 |
| 1996–97 | Howard | 27 | - | - | 43.4 | 0.0 | 52.0 | 8.2 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.4 | - | 12.1 |
| Career | 108 | - | - | 48.7 | 0.0 | 52.2 | 8.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 2.1 | - | 13.9 | |
| Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[8] | |||||||||||||
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