Renee Montgomery

Renee Montgomery at Championship Dinner, 2009
WNBA's Connecticut Sun  – No. 21
Guard
Born	(1986-12-02) December 2, 1986 (age 25) St. Albans, West Virginia
Nationality	American
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight	143 lb (65 kg)
College	Connecticut
Draft	4th overall, 2009 Minnesota Lynx
Profile	WNBA Info Page
WNBA Teams
Minnesota Lynx (2009) Connecticut Sun (2010–present)
Awards and Honors
1× WNBA All-Star (2011) Honda Sports Award (2009)

Renee Danielle Montgomery (born December 2, 1986) is an American basketball player who won a national championship with the UConn Huskies in 2009. She currently plays for the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA.

High school[link]

Montgomery was a captain each year of her high school career. She averaged 22.5 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals while leading South Charleston High School to the West Virginia Class AAA Final as a senior. She led South Charleston High School to the West Virginia state Championships 3 times. She also played on the varsity soccer team.

College career[link]

She attended the University of Connecticut.

Freshman year[link]

She started 35 of the Huskies' 37 games at point guard and was named 2006 Big East Freshman of the Year.

Sophomore year[link]

Montgomery started in all 36 games as the Huskies' point guard. She tallied double-figure points in 29 games, including four 20-point plus scoring efforts. Montgomery led the team with a 13.3 scoring average and 163 assists. She was named first team All-Big East. In addition, Montgomery led the USA U-20 National Team to a gold medal during the summer prior to the start of the season at the FIBA U-20 Championship for Women in Mexico City.

Junior year[link]

Montgomery was selected as an All-Big East First Team choice for the second consecutive season. She was also selected to the All-Big East Tournament Team for the third consecutive season. Montgomery moved to the shooting guard slot on January 19, following a season-ending injury to Mel Thomas, after playing the majority of her career at point guard. She passed the 1,000 point mark in a 82–71 UConn win over North Carolina on January 21, 2008 at Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies lost in the Final Four to Stanford and finished the season at 36–2.

Senior year[link]

Montgomery reached double figure points in all but four games this season, and led the Huskies to a 39–0 season and her first and only National Championship. She finished her career in the Top Ten of many categories in the UConn women's basketball recordbooks including No. 1 in games played (150), No. 6 in career points (1,990), No. 6 in FG's (703), No. 4 in 3pt FG's (254), No. 9 in FT's (330), No. 3 in Assists (632), and No. 5 in Steals (266). She was the first Husky to be recognized in the "Huskies of Honor" while still playing in a Husky uniform.^[1]

Sports Illustrated did a series of thirteen photographs featuring players and team member of teams chasing or achieving perfect seasons—an entire season without a loss. The photograph of Coach Geno Auriemma embracing Renee Montgomery during the 2008–09 season is included in the collection.^[2]

University of Connecticut statistics[link]

Professional career[link]

She was selected at No. 4 overall in the 2009 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx.^[5]

In 2010, Montgomery was traded to the Connecticut Sun, as part of a trade involving Minnesota native Lindsay Whalen, and the first pick in the 2010 draft, with which the Sun selected Tina Charles, Montgomery's former college teammate.^[6] In college, Montgomery wore 20 as a uniform number. Players are often become attached to their numbers, some more than others. Renee liked her number so much that her personal website is reneemontgomery20.com.^[7] The Sun also added veteran Kara Lawson to the team, who had worn No. 20 in college and with the Sacramento Monarchs, so Montgomery will be wearing No. 21 for the Sun.^[8]

During the 2009–10 collegiate basketball season, Montgomery occasionally worked as a color commentator for women's college games broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.

USA Basketball[link]

Montgomery at USA National team versus USA Select team scrimmage.

Montgomery was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009. The team selected to play for the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics is usually chosen from these participants.^[9]

At the conclusion of the training camp, the team traveled to Ekaterinburg, Russia, where they competed in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational.^[9]

Montgomery was one of twenty players named to the national team pool. Twelve of this group will be chosen to represent the USA in the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics.^[10]

Montgomery was named as one of the National team members to represent the USA Basketball team in the WNBA versus USA Basketball.^[11] This game replaces the normal WNBA All-Star game with WNBA All-Stars versus USA Basketball, as part of the preparation for the FIBA World Championship for Women to be held in the Czech Republic during September and October 2010.^[12]

Montgomery was one of 21 finalists for the U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team Roster. The 20 professional women's basketball payers, plus one collegiate player (Brittney Griner), were selected by the USA Basketball Women’s National Team Player Selection Committee to compete for the final roster which will represent the USA at the 2012 Olympics in London.^[13]

Awards and honors[link]

• 2005 McDonald's All-America.
• 2005 Gatorade West Virginia High School Player of the Year.
• 2005 Street & Smith Third Team All-America.
• 2005 Associated Press West Virginia Player of the Year.
• 2005 WBCA Honorable Mention All-America.
• 2004 Street & Smith Third Team All-America.
• 2003 Street & Smith Honorable Mention All-America
• 2009 Nancy Lieberman Award – Top Point Guard^[14]
• 2009 Honda Sports Award, basketball^[15]
• 2009 Finalist for Honda-Broderick Cup^[16]
• 2009 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award^[17]
• 2009 Gazette Sportsperson of the Year^[18]

See also[link]

• List of Connecticut women's basketball players with 1000 points

References[link]

External links[link]

• UConn Husky Bio