Ticha Penicheiro

Patrícia Nunes "Ticha" Penicheiro, OIH (September 18, 1974) is a Portuguese sports agent and former basketball player. She played for the Sacramento Monarchs in the WNBA for most of her professional career.[1] She was a four-time WNBA All-Star and a three-time All-WNBA selection. Penicheiro is regarded as one of the best point guards of all time, ranking 2nd all-time for most career assists and leading the WNBA in assists seven times, as well as winning a WNBA championship with the Monarchs in 2005. She is a 2019 inductee of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.[2]

Ticha Penicheiro
Personal information
Born (1974-09-18) September 18, 1974
Figueira da Foz, Portugal
NationalityPortuguese
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight146 lb (66 kg)
Career information
CollegeOld Dominion (1994–1998)
WNBA draft1998 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the Sacramento Monarchs
Playing career1998–2012
PositionPoint guard
Number21
Career history
1998–2009Sacramento Monarchs
2000–2001Lotos Gdynia
2001–2002Basket Parma
2003–2004UMMC Ekaterinburg
2004–2005Valenciennes
2005–2007Spartak Moscow
2008TTT Riga
2009–2010Geas Basket
2010–2011Los Angeles Sparks
2010PF Umbertide
2010–2011Sport Algés e Dafunto
2011USK Praha
2012Galatasaray
2012Chicago Sky
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

College years

Penicheiro was born in Figueira da Foz, Portugal. Penicheiro has played for professional clubs since her young teens, although she did not play at the senior level until after she starred in U.S. college basketball at Old Dominion University. She played at Old Dominion from 1994–98 and helped lead the Lady Monarchs to the 1997 NCAA Championship game. In 1997, Penicheiro was named to the Final Four All Tournament team.[3] During her playing time at ODU, Penicheiro collected 1,304 career points and finished her career as ODU's all-time steal leader with 591. She is second all-time at ODU on the career assist list to another ODU great Nancy Lieberman with 939. She is the Colonial Athletic Association's all-time leader in both assists and steals.

Penicheiro is a two-time Kodak All-American, selected in 1997 and 1998. She became ODU's second winner of the prestigious Lifetime/Wade Trophy and the first international player to win the honor. A four-time All-CAA honoree, Ticha was named the conference's Player-of-the Year in 1995-96 and 1996-97 while also claiming the Rookie of the Year award in 1994-95. She graduated from Old Dominion in 1998 with degrees in communications and interdisciplinary studies, and was inducted into the ODU Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.[4]

Old Dominion statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1995 Old Dominion 33 283 .427 .333 .552 4.8 6.2 4.0 0.2 8.6
1996 Old Dominion 32 284 .491 .289 .671 4.6 7.1 4.3 0.3 8.9
1997 Old Dominion 36 393 .443 .310 .649 4.5 7.5 4.5 0.3 10.9
1998 Old Dominion 32 344 .408 .328 .629 5.1 7.5 5.0 0.2 10.8
Career 133 1,304 .440 .316 .628 4.7 7.1 4.4 0.3 9.8

Source[5]

WNBA career

In 1998, Penicheiro joined the Sacramento Monarchs as a rookie, finishing third in the WNBA Rookie of the Year award voting. She is a four-time WNBA All-Star player. She has twice tied the WNBA's record with 16 assists in a single game. In 1999, she was selected as a WNBA first team player. This was also the year she set her WNBA high in points, with 27 against the Minnesota Lynx. In 2001, she was selected as a member of the WNBA's second team.

She had, as of June 19, 2003, 1,027 career points in the WNBA; for an average of 6.8 per game, 1,121 assists; for a total of 7.5 per game, 615 rebounds; for a total of 4.1 per game, and 322 steals, for a total of 2.15 per game.

Ticha is the all-time WNBA leader in assists and holds the WNBA single-game record for most steals with 10.

Penicheiro is well known for her consistently flashy style of play. In 2005, she helped the Sacramento Monarchs win their first ever WNBA championship title.

After the Monarchs franchise became defunct, Penicheiro signed with the Los Angeles Sparks. In 2011, her second year with the team, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in the fifteen-year history of the WNBA.[6]

In February 2012, Penicheiro signed with the Chicago Sky, but her season statistics were significantly diminished due to injuries, and on September 18, she announced that she would retire from the WNBA at the end of the 2012 season.[7]

Penicheiro was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

In 2016, Penicheiro was named in the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the WNBA's top 20 players of all-time in celebration of the league's twentieth anniversary.

WNBA career statistics

Legend
  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 high ° League leader
Denotes seasons in which Penicheiro won a WNBA championship

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1998 Sacramento 303036.0°.333.233.6424.77.5°2.20.13.876.3
1999 Sacramento 323235.0.320.158.6644.87.1°2.10.24.227.3
2000 Sacramento 303031.2.368.200.5793.07.9°2.30.22.376.9
2001 Sacramento 232232.3.339.262.7663.77.5°1.70.42.786.3
2002 Sacramento 242435.5.377.250.7284.38.0°2.70.02.888.5
2003 Sacramento 343432.0.302.250.5793.56.7°1.80.02.385.4
2004 Sacramento 323229.4.354.338.7143.14.91.90.12.186.0
2005 Sacramento 343327.3.314.195.7902.94.41.40.21.975.7
2006 Sacramento 343424.9.339.194.7922.73.41.70.11.975.4
2007 Sacramento 323223.7.314.214.8222.64.51.50.01.885.7
2008 Sacramento 333325.9.374.286.8093.05.22.00.12.648.6
2009 Sacramento 302824.1.324.111.8142.75.21.00.12.134.9
2010 Los Angeles 323026.3.410.111.8194.06.9°1.30.12.254.9
2011 Los Angeles 342323.7.486.417.8682.84.80.80.12.096.0
2012 Chicago 18512.8.375.200.5451.32.10.40.22.001.8
Career 15 years, 3 teams 45342228.2.351.248.7313.35.71.70.12.506.1

Postseason

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1999 Sacramento 1120.0.200.0001.0004.03.01.00.02.004.0
2000 Sacramento 2238.5.250.500.8333.57.0°2.00.03.008.0
2001 Sacramento 5532.6.250.3681.0003.86.6°0.60.81.806.2
2003 Sacramento 6623.8.333.250.8752.33.01.00.51.174.2
2004 Sacramento 6632.2.222.133.6883.35.32.50.33.174.2
2005 Sacramento 6627.0.323.000.8004.05.21.00.22.335.3
2006 Sacramento 9923.8.294.286.6472.33.81.20.01.225.0
2007 Sacramento 3323.0.273.000.6002.35.02.30.03.336.0
2008 Sacramento 3331.3.486.750.6674.06.3°2.30.31.6713.7
2010 Los Angeles 2229.5.455.0001.0002.52.52.50.03.006.0
Career 10 years, 2 teams 434327.7.314.288.7473.14.71.50.32.075.8

International career

Penicheiro was a member of Portugal's national women's basketball team. She was also on the Spartak Moscow Region team, with Tina Thompson, Sue Bird, and Diana Taurasi. She played for Galatasaray Medical Park of Turkey in the 2011-12 season.[8]

Later career

When inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019, she was an active agent with about 30 clients, among them current WNBA players Kayla McBride and Courtney Vandersloot.[2]

Personal life

Penicheiro is an ardent supporter of the Special Olympics and supports ovarian cancer research, to honor one of her best friends who was diagnosed with the disease. Besides her native Portuguese, she speaks English, Spanish and conversational Italian. Father, João, was a former basketball player and now is coaches to an older brother, Paulo, who plays professionally in Portugal. She became an aunt when her brother and sister-in-law gave birth to their son João Miguel in 2009. Penicheiro also enjoys listening to R&B music and is an avid collector of watches and clothes.[9] She had mentioned that during her playing career, she'd listened to Hip-Hop and R&B music before a game.[10]

On February 20, 2013, Penicheiro became an American citizen, taking the oath with 1,200 others at the Sacramento Convention Center.[11]

References

  1. "Ticha Penicheiro Bio at wnba web site". Archived from the original on September 21, 2007. Retrieved January 9, 2008.
  2. Megargee, Steve (June 7, 2019). "Penicheiro's new career has Hall of Famer focusing on future". Yahoo Sports. Associated Press. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  3. Nixon, Rick. "Official 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four Records Book" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  4. "Old Dominion University Hall of Fame Members". Old Dominion University. Archived from the original on May 21, 2011. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
  5. "Women's Basketball Finest" (PDF). fs.ncaa.org. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  6. http://www.wnba.com/allstar/2011/top15_072311.html
  7. "Great Penicheiro to retire after season". Daily Press. Hampton Roads, VA. September 19, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  8. Ticha Penicheiro Galatasaray Medical Park'ta
  9. http://www.interbasket.net/players/ticha.htm
  10. http://www.wnba.com/archive/wnba/playoffs2006/Penicheiro_Playoff_Mailbag.html
  11. Chang, Richard (February 21, 2013). "Ex-Sacramento Monarch Ticha Penicheiro adds citizenship to All-Star status". The Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original on February 24, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
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