Jennifer Gillom facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Jennifer Gillom

Personal information
Born	(1964-06-13) June 13, 1964 (age 59) Abbeville, Mississippi, U.S.
High school	Lafayette (Oxford, Mississippi)
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
College	Ole Miss (1982–1986)
NBA Draft	1997 / Round: Allocated
Selected by the Phoenix Mercury
Pro career	1997–2003
Coaching career	2004–present
Career history
As player:
1997–2002	Phoenix Mercury
2003	Los Angeles Sparks
As coach:
2004–2010, 2017-current	Xavier College Preparatory
2008	Minnesota Lynx (assistant)
2009	Minnesota Lynx
2010–2011	Los Angeles Sparks
2012	Washington Mystics (assistant)
2013–2015	Connecticut Sun (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
WNBA All-Star (1999) All-WNBA First Team (1998) All-WNBA Second Team (1997) No. 22 retired by retired by Phoenix Mercury Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award (2002)
Medals Women's Basketball Representing the  United States World University Games Gold 1985 Kobe Team competition FIBA World Championship for Women Gold 1986 Moscow Team competition Pan American Games Gold 1987 Indianapolis Team competition Olympic Games Gold 1988 Seoul Team competition Assistant Coach for Women's Basketball Representing the  United States Olympic Games Gold 2012 London Team competition FIBA World Championship for Women Gold 2010 Brazil Team competition

Jennifer "Grandmama" Gillom (born June 13, 1964) is an American former Women's National Basketball Association (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. 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's final WNBA game was played in Game 2 of the 2003 WNBA Finals on September 14, 2003 in a 61 - 62 loss to the Detroit Shock where she played for only 65 seconds and recorded no stats.

Gillom is 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 inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Ole Miss

Source

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 comeback attempt but fell short, losing 87–81. Gillom was the second leading scorer for the USA team, with 12.8 points per game. 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.

Gillom was named to the team representing the US 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. 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.

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.

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

Career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

See also

In Spanish: Jennifer Gillom para niños