Carla Renee McGhee (born March 6, 1968) is an American former basketball player most notable for her career at the University of Tennessee. She was injured in a car crash in October 1987 and was in a coma for 47 hours, suffering brain injuries and breaking nearly every bone in her face. She was told she'd never play again.[1] She was a member of the gold medal-winning 1996 Olympic Team.[2]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | March 6, 1968 (age 56) Peoria, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| High school | Manual Peoria, Illinois | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College | Tennessee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WNBA draft | 1999: 4th round, 44th overall pick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selected by the Orlando Miracle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2002 | Orlando Miracle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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As a member of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, McGhee won two national championships at Tennessee (1987 and 1989) in three-tournament appearances. She averaged 6.1 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game for her collegiate career. She was named to the 1987 Tennessean All-Freshman team.
She played one season in the ABL for the Atlanta Glory, averaging 8.2 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game in 26 games. She has played six pro seasons abroad in Germany (1990–91, 1998), Spain (1991–93) and Italy (1993–95). McGhee was a Spanish League and Spanish/Italian League All-Star in 1993.[citation needed]
She played for the Orlando Miracle in the WNBA from 1999 to 2002.[3]
USA Basketball
editMcGhee was named to the team representing the US at the William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan in July 1987. The team won all seven games to win the gold medal for the event. The USA was down at halftime in the opening game against Japan, but came back in the second half to win, helped by 15 points from Campbell. McGhee averaged 7.4 points per game over the seven games.[4]
McGhee was selected to be a member of the USA team invited to the 1994 World Championships. The preliminary rounds were held in Hobart, Tasmania while the final rounds were in Sydney, Australia. The USA team won their first six games before playing Brazil in the semi-final match up. Brazil's Hortência Marcari had a great game scoring 32 points, and the final score of 110–107 favored the Brazilian team. The USA team regrouped to beat the host Australia team 100–95 to take home the bronze medal. McGhee averaged 5.3 points per game.[5]
McGhee was selected to represent the US at the 1995 Pan American Games. However, only four teams committed to participate in the women's basketball competition, so that event was cancelled.[6]
McGhee's final event as a member of the USA team was the 1996 Summer Olympics, held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The USA team won all their pool play games by large margins, although they were behind Cuba by as much as seven points before Lisa Leslie's 24 points, helped the USA take over the game. The USA victory over Australia featured a record setting 15 assists by Teresa Edwards, while Johnson was the leading scorer with 24 points. Against Japan, Lisa Leslie set a USA Olympic scoring record with 35 points. In the final, the USA team faced 7–0 Brazil—a team that had beaten the USA squad in the 1991 Pan Am games and the 1994 World Championships. This time, playing before a home crowd of 32,987, the USA team started out very strong, hitting 71.9 per cent of their field goals leading to an eleven points margin at the half. The USA team scored the first eight points of the second half and won the gold medal 111–87. McGhee averaged 3.1 points per game.[7]
Career statistics
editWNBA
edit| 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 best | ° | League leader |
Regular season
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Orlando | 30 | 0 | 7.8 | 31.9 | 0.0 | 83.3 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.5 |
| 2000 | Orlando | 32 | 0 | 12.8 | 36.1 | 0.0 | 69.2 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.7 |
| 2001 | Orlando | 17 | 0 | 4.2 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| 2002 | Orlando | 2 | 0 | 2.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.5 |
| Career | 4 years, 1 team | 81 | 0 | 8.9 | 33.5 | 0.0 | 72.6 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.9 |
Playoffs
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Orlando | 3 | 0 | 12.3 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
| Career | 1 year, 1 team | 3 | 0 | 12.3 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
College
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988–89 | Tennessee | 37 | - | - | 52.8 | 0.0 | 50.6 | 5.4 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.3 | - | 5.3 |
| 1989–90 | Tennessee | 30 | - | - | 48.4 | 0.0 | 69.0 | 6.8 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 0.5 | - | 9.0 |
| Career | 67 | - | - | 50.1 | 0.0 | 59.8 | 6.0 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.4 | - | 6.9 | |
| Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[8] | |||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ VanDerveer, Tara (1997). Shooting from the outside : how a coach and her Olympic team transformed women's basketball. with Joan Ryan. New York: Avon Books. p. 17. ISBN 9780380975884.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Carla McGhee". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020.
- ^ "Carla McGhee WNBA Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ "1987 Women's R. William Jones Cup". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "TWELFTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN -- 1994". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- ^ "Twelfth Pan American Games -- 1995". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
- ^ "Games of the XXVIth Olympiad -- 1996". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on September 14, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- ^ "Carla McGhee College Stats". Sports-Reference. Retrieved July 6, 2024.