Sancho Lyttle
Sancho Lyttle (born September 20, 1983) is a Vincentian-Spanish former professional basketball player for the WNBA. Combining the WNBA and the European season, she has won six domestic leagues and four Euroleague titles with four teams in three countries. She was born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and was granted Spanish nationality in June 2010. With the Spanish basketball team she has won four medals between 2010 and 2017.[1]
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 20, 1983 The Grenadines |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Listed weight | 175 lb (79 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College |
|
| WNBA draft | 2005 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5th overall |
| Selected by the Houston Comets | |
| Playing career | 2005–2019 |
| Position | Power forward / Center |
| Career history | |
| 2005–2008 | Houston Comets |
| 2006–2009 | CB Puig d'en Valls |
| 2009–2017 | Atlanta Dream |
| 2009–2011 | CB Avenida |
| 2011–2012 | Ros Casares Valencia |
| 2012–2015 | Galatasaray |
| 2015–2019 | UMMC Ekaterinburg |
| 2018–2019 | Phoenix Mercury |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Stats at WNBA.com | |
Medals
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Early life
Sancho Lyttle was born to Evelyn Little and Ian Cain. Members of her family spell their surname 'Lyttle' or 'Little'. Sancho has a younger brother, Xavier Little. Sancho attended St. Vincent Girls' High School where she played net ball and ran various Track and Field events. She never played basketball until prompted to do so after her move to the United States. She and three other girls from her country were requested by her Junior College and current assistant coach for the University of Houston Women's team Wade Scott who offered to teach them how to play the game of basketball.
College career
Sancho Lyttle played collegiate basketball at Clarendon College before transferring to the University of Houston from 2003–2005 where she currently holds the record for single season rebound average (2004–2005), offensive rebounds (04-05) and most rebounds in a single season (04-05). She also holds the career record for highest rebounding average.
WNBA career
When the Houston Comets folded in 2008, she was selected first in the dispersal draft by the Atlanta Dream.
She currently plays the power forward position for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. Throughout her career, she has scored 1,505 points, collected 1,041 rebounds, and has 200 assists, 242 steals, and 96 blocks through six seasons. She was the fifth overall draft pick in the 2005 WNBA Draft out of Houston.
In 2010, she had career highs in points and rebounds with 27 and 20, respectively. She was hospitalized for a number of days in 2010 after being knocked unconscious for a little over a minute by an incidental elbow during a game. She recovered and played 13 days later.[2]
On February 1, 2018, Lyttle signed with the Phoenix Mercury after spending the previous 9 seasons with the Atlanta Dream.[3] However, her season ended early when she tore her ACL on June 30, 2018.[4] In September 2019, Little announced her retirement after 15 WNBA seasons.[5]
WNBA stats
| Season | Team | GP | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Houston Comets | 33 | 13.9 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 0.5 |
| 2006 | Houston Comets | 29 | 13.1 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 0.3 |
| 2007 | Houston Comets | 31 | 16.3 | 5.9 | 5.3 | 1.0 |
| 2008 | Houston Comets | 27 | 18.1 | 8.2 | 6.2 | 0.9 |
| 2009 | Atlanta Dream | 34 | 27.4 | 13.0 | 7.5 | 1.5 |
| 2010 | Atlanta Dream | 32 | 29.1 | 12.8 | 9.92 | 2.2 |
| 2011 | Atlanta Dream | 22 | 26.2 | 10.0 | 6.3 | 2.1 |
| 2012 | Atlanta Dream | 34 | 31.6 | 14.0 | 7.6 | 2.5 |
| 2013 | Atlanta Dream | 6 | 30.0 | 14.3 | 8.5 | 2.5 |
| 2014 | Atlanta Dream | 34 | 31.3 | 12.2 | 9.0 | 2.4 |
| 2015 | Atlanta Dream | 24 | 30.0 | 10.3 | 8.3 | 2.2 |
| 2016 | Atlanta Dream | 19 | 30.1 | 7.6 | 7.8 | 1.8 |
| 2017[6] | Atlanta Dream | 29 | 28.3 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 1.6 |
| 2018 | Phoenix Mercury | 18 | 23.3 | 7.9 | 5.3 | 1.4 |
| TOTAL[7] | 372 | 24.9 | 9.2 | 6.8 | 1.6 |
Euroleague career
Simultaneously to her WNBA career, she has played in Spain,[8][9] Turkey and Russia, winning one Euroleague and at least one domestic league playing for every club. She currently plays for Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg
Euroleague stats
| Euroleague champion | |
| Season | Team | GP | MPP | PPP | RPP | APP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-10 |  Halcón Avenida |
15 | 30.5 | 17.6 | 10.8 | 1.6 |
| 2010-11 | Halcón Avenida |
16 | 31.1 | 13.9 | 9.8 | 1.3 |
| 2011-12 | Ros Casares |
17 | 26.8 | 12.8 | 7.4 | 2.4 |
| 2012-13 |  Galatasaray S.K. |
17 | 25.6 | 11.6 | 7.2 | 1.3 |
| 2013-14 | Galatasaray S.K. |
14 | 28.4 | 13.6 | 8.3 | 1.8 |
| 2014-15 | Galatasaray S.K. |
13 | 30.5 | 11.1 | 9.1 | 1.9 |
| 2015-16 |  UMMC Ekaterinburg |
17 | 23.8 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 1.9 |
| 2016-17 | UMMC Ekaterinburg |
13[10] | 20.6 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 1.8 |
| Total | 122 | 27.1 | 11.7 | 8.2 | 1.7 |
National team
Lyttle played her first and only tournament with native Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2004, at the Caribbean championship.[11]
After her naturalization was granted in 2010,[12] she made her debut with the senior Spanish team in 2010, days after turning 27. Up to 2017, she had 45 caps with 15.6 PPG and 9.5 RPP, participating in two World Championships and three European Championships. After helping the team qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio in mid-June, she missed the Games after breaking her toe in mid-July playing for the Atlanta Dream:[13][14]
Awards and achievements
- 2009, 2010 WNBA All-Star
- Bronze medal in 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women
- Named to the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women All-Tournament Team
- Gold medal in EuroBasket Women 2013
- FIBA Europe Women's Player of the Year (2013)
- 2014—FIBA World Championship All-Star Five[15]
- Silver medal in 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women
References
- "archive.fiba.com: Players". www.fiba.basketball. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- Lyttle rebounds from big blow
- "Mercury Signs All-Star Forward Sancho Lyttle". mercury.wnba.com. February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
- "Mercury Forward Sancho Lyttle Out For Season With Torn ACL". mercury.wnba.com. July 2, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
- "Lyttle announces her retirement after 15 WNBA seasons". Fansided. September 16, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
- "Stats - Atlanta Dream". Atlanta Dream. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- "Sancho Lyttle - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- Offseason 2008–09: Overseas Roster
- "Federación Española de Baloncesto - Competiciones FEB". competiciones.feb.es. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- "Sancho LYTTLE at the EuroLeague Women 2017 - FIBA.basketball". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- "St.Vincent and the Grenadines | 2004 CBC Championship for Women | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM". www.fiba.basketball. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- "La selección española 'ficha' a Sancho Lyttle, una de las mejores jugadoras del mundo - MARCA.com". www.marca.com. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- Hill, Jordan. "Dream lose forward Sancho Lyttle for rest of regular season". ajc. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- "Duro golpe para España: Sancho Lyttle se lesiona en la WNBA no estará en los Juegos". Gigantes del Basket (in Spanish). July 17, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- "Moore named MVP of 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women, headlines All-Star Five". FIBA.com. October 5, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
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