Nigerian-American professional basketball player, Chinenye Ogwumike Popularly known as Chiney Ogwumike was born on March 22, 1992. She plays for the Connecticut Sun of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) with height 6’3″ and plays power forward.
Chiney attended Cypress Fairbanks High School in Cypress, Texas where she won the 5A State Championship in her sophomore and senior seasons. In 2010, she participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored 24 points and earned MVP honors for the White team She equally played in three Final Fours with Stanford University.
She is the younger sister of the famous basketball player, Nneka Ogwumike who also plays in the Women’s National Basketball Association.
Chiney signed an endorsement deal with Nike in 2014 soon after being drafted first overall in the WNBA. As of 2016, Chiney was elected Vice-President of the WNBA Players Association and was named a WBCA and McDonald’s All-American. While at Stanford, she produced a series of viral videos about the university’s student athlete culture.
Chiney concluded her Stanford career in 2014 as the all-time career scoring leader for either sex in Pac-12 Conference history, a record that fell in 2016 to Kelsey Plum of Washington.
In her rookie season, Chiney immediately became a starter, averaging 15.1 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game. She was named a WNBA All-Star along with her sister Nneka Ogwumike, becoming the first pair of sisters to be selected into a WNBA All-Star game. She sat out the entire 2015 season while recovering from a micro-fracture on her right knee that she sustained months before the season. Chiney then came back healthy for the 2016 season, playing 33 games with 18 starts while averaging 12.6 points per game. She had scored a career-high 26 points along with 15 rebounds in a regular season game win against the Dallas Wings. During the 2016 WNBA season, Chiney had signed with Henan Yichuan of the WCBA for the 2016–17 Chinese season. In her fifth game with the team, she scored 56 points (on 23 of 24 field goal shooting) along with 12 rebounds.
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In December 2016, She had to undergo surgery after injuring her achilles while playing overseas in China during the WNBA offseason. In the 2014–15 European season, Chiney then played in Italy for Famila Schio. She is currently ruled out with an estimated recovery period of 6–9 months, which will cause her to miss the 2017 WNBA season. In April 2017, Chiney was suspended by the Sun for the entire 2017 season to free up a roster spot due to her injury and that same month she also signed a contract extension.
Chiney was named to the USA Basketball U18 team which was one of eight teams from North, South and Central America, along with the Caribbean, invited to participate in the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship For Women, held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team was coached by Jennifer Rizzotti. Chiney started all five games and was the leading scorer with 13.2 points per game. She was also the leading re-bounder with 7.4 rebounds per game. The USA team won all five games and captured the gold medal.
Chiney was to move up to the U19 team following her great performance with the U18 team. However, she was promoted to the World University Games team for the 2011 World University Games held in Shenzhen, China. She hit 25 of 37 shot attempts for a team leading 67.6% shooting percentage. She helped the USA win all six games and earn the gold medal.
AWARDS
- WBCA High School Coaches’ All-America Team (2010).
- All-Pacific-10 Conference Team (2011)
- All-Pac-10 All-Defensive Team (2011)
- All-Pac-10 Tournament Team (2011)
- Pac-10 Freshman of the Year (2011)
- Pac-12 Player of the Year (2013)
- Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year (2013)
- ESPNW First Team All-American (2014)
- USBWA All-American team (2014)
- John R. Wooden Award (2014)
- Pac-12 Player of the Year (2014)
- Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year (2014)
- WNBA Rookie of the Year (2014)
