Nykesha Simone Sales (born May 10, 1976) is an American assistant coach at the University of Georgia . She is a former professional basketball player in the WNBA , as well as playing in the Bosnian league for the ZKK Mladi Krajisnik club. Her primary position is the small forward . Her second position is shooting guard . In 1999 Sales was added to the roster of the USA FIBA Senior National Team. Her brother Brooks Sales played forward for Villanova from 1998 to 2002, and currently plays overseas in Spain for the Club Baloncesto Breogán of Lugo .
17-802: Sales attended Bloomfield High School in Bloomfield, Connecticut , and lettered in basketball. She was named the USA Today High School National Player of the Year in basketball, as a senior. Sales was named a High School All-American by the WBCA . She participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game in 1994, scoring 21 points. Sales attended the University of Connecticut (UConn) as
34-476: A business major from 1994 to 1998. She was a member of the powerhouse UConn women's basketball team. In 1995 she helped lead UConn to an undefeated NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship as well as a Final Four appearance in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. She was named Big East Rookie of the Year in 1995. In 1997 she was a member of the Gold medal USA Women's World University Games. In 1997-98 she helped
51-815: A member of the 1995 Jones Cup Team that won the Bronze in Taipei . She averaged 7.8 points per game and was second on the team in steals, with ten. Sales was invited to be a member of the Jones Cup team representing the US in 1996. She helped the team to a 9–0 record, and the gold medal in the event. Sales averaged 4.8 points per game. Sales represented the US at the 1997 World University Games held in Marsala , Sicily , Italy in August 1997. The USA team won all six games, earning
68-754: The Cleveland Rockers . In 2001, the Miracle took a step backwards, but they hosted the 2001 WNBA All-Star Game . In 2002, the Miracle posted a 16-16 record, but missed the playoffs after losing the tiebreaker for the final playoff spot to the Indiana Fever . The 2002 season would also prove to be the Miracle's last in Orlando. After the 2002 WNBA season , the NBA sold off all of the WNBA franchises to
85-590: The expansion draft . She remained with the franchise even when the Miracle relocated to Uncasville, Connecticut and was renamed the Connecticut Sun prior to the 2003 season. She helped lead the team to the WNBA Finals in 2004 and 2005. Sales has been named to the WNBA All-Star team six times. Until she missed 12 games in the 2006 season, Sales had started 248 consecutive regular season games,
102-669: The Bloomfield High School main building and the Harris Agricultural Science Center. This Connecticut school-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Orlando Miracle The Orlando Miracle were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Orlando, Florida . It began play in the 1999 WNBA season . The Miracle relocated, in 2003, to Uncasville, Connecticut , where
119-474: The gold medal at the event. Sales was the team's leading scorer, averaging 18.3 points per game. In the game against Cuba, Sales scored 32 points, which set a record for points scored in a gold medal game, and represents the third highest point total by an American recorded at the World University Games. Sales left college as UConn's all-time leading scorer with 2,178 career points. She scored
136-412: The inclusion of people with disabilities. Bloomfield High School (Connecticut) Bloomfield High School is the sole public high school serving the town of Bloomfield, Connecticut , United States. Bloomfield High School has been a four-year high school since 1985, changing from a three-year high school as the school age population and public school attendance declined. The campus consists of
153-489: The move. Sales's record would eventually be broken by Tina Charles . Incidentally, Sales wore #24 in high school, the same number worn by Kerry Bascom at Connecticut. When Sales was considering going to Connecticut, she was respectful enough of Bascom's position, that she asked if she could wear #42, reversing the digits, rather than asking to wear #24. In 1998, Sales was assigned to the Orlando Miracle as part of
170-630: The operators of the teams. Magic owner Rich DeVos was not interested in keeping the Miracle, and no local ownership group emerged. In January 2003, the Connecticut-based Mohegan Native American Tribe bought the team. The new owners moved the team to Uncasville, Connecticut and changed the nickname to the Sun (in reference to the tribe's Mohegan Sun casino.) The Connecticut Sun's new nickname and logo were reminiscent of another Florida-based WNBA franchise,
187-400: The record, as he had made her sit on many occasions to avoid running up the score. The staged basket, while questioned in retrospect, was his attempt to make it up to her. He contacted the previous record holder, Kerry Bascom , as well as Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese to ensure that the incident would not be a problem, although the media was, and to a degree continues to be, critical of
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#1732790275691204-479: The record-breaking points as part of a staged controversial layup. Sales had suffered an injury that had essentially ended her collegiate career. UConn's next game (against Villanova University ) began with Villanova permitting Sales to complete an uncontested layup; UConn then returned the favor, allowing Villanova to score (the game essentially began with a 2–2 score before serious play commenced). UConn head coach Geno Auriemma felt bad that Sales did not already have
221-413: The second longest such streak in WNBA history. Despite repeatedly making the annual all-star team since the beginning of her career, Sales was left off the announced All-Decade Team on June 13, 2006 as part of a celebration of the league's 10th Anniversary. On March 11, 2008, Sales noted that she would not participate in the 2008 WNBA campaign due to nagging injuries. Sales also noted that her sitting out
238-451: The team became the Connecticut Sun . The Miracle was a sister team to the NBA 's Orlando Magic . The city of Orlando was granted an expansion franchise in 1998, and the Orlando Miracle took the floor for the 1999 WNBA season . The Miracle posted respectable records in their four years of existence (1999–2002). The Miracle made the playoffs once, in 2000, and lost in the first round against
255-604: The team make two Elite Eight appearances. In the 1997–98 season, she was named to the All-American first team, Defensive Player of the Year, and also the BIG EAST Player of the Year. She was also named to the 1996–97 and 1997-98 Kodak All-America teams. Sales was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program. Sales
272-538: Was named to the team representing the US at the 1994 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan . The USA team won all eight games, winning the gold medal, but not without close calls. In three games the teams had to come from behind to win. One preliminary game ended up as a single-point victory, and the gold medal game went to overtime before the USA team beat South Korea by a single point, 90–89. Sales averaged 2.5 points per game. Sales competed with USA Basketball as
289-992: Was not an early retirement, but just a break. However, she ultimately did not return to the WNBA. Sales has also been an active participant in the SportsUnited Sports Envoy program for the U.S. Department of State . In this function, she has traveled to Cape Verde , Haiti , the Republic of Korea , Uganda , Ukraine , and Venezuela , where she worked with the likes of Becky Bonner, Christopher Clunie, Samuel Dalembert , Alex English , Willie Greens , Jason Maxiell and Tamika Raymond to conduct basketball clinics and events that directly or indirectly reached more than 2350 youth from underserved areas. In so doing, Sales helped contribute to SportsUnited's mission to reach out to youth populations in order to promote community leadership, education, women's inclusion and empowerment, inclusion of marginalized communities, and
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