Dena Head: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|American basketball player (born 1970)}}

[[Image:DenaHead1991.jpg|frame|right|Dena Head as a LadyVol in 1991]]

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Dena Head

| number =

| position = [[Guard (basketball)|Guard]]

| height_ft = 5

| height_in = 10

| weight_lb =

| league =

| team =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|8|16|mf=y}}

| birth_place = [[Canton, Michigan]], U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| high_school = Salem High School <br/> [[Canton, Michigan]]

| college = [[Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball|Tennessee]] (1989–1992)

| draft_year = 1997

| draft_round = 1

| draft_pick = 1

| draft_team = [[Utah Starzz]]

| draft_league = WNBA

| career_start =

| career_end =

| career_position =

| career_number =

| years1 =

| team1 =

| highlights = * 2x [[List of NCAA Women's Division I Basketball champions|NCAA champion]] ([[1989 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament|1989]], [[1991 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament|1991]])

* All-American – [[United States Basketball Writers Association|USBWA]] (1992)

* [[Women's Basketball Coaches Association|Kodak]] All-American (1992)

* [[SEC Women's Basketball Player of the Year|SEC Player of the Year]] (1992)

* [[SEC Women's Basketball Tournament|SEC Tournament MVP]] (1992)

* 2x First-team All-[[Southeastern Conference|SEC]] (1991, 1992)

* [[Southeastern Conference women's basketball Freshman of the Year|SEC Freshman of the Year]] (1989)

* SEC All-Freshman Team (1989)

| medal_templates = {{MedalSport|Women's [[basketball]]}}

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

{{MedalCompetition | [[World University Games]]}}

{{MedalGold | [[1991 Summer Universiade|1991 Sheffield]] | [[USA Women's World University Games Team|Team competition]]}}

{{MedalCompetition | [[William Jones Cup|Jones Cup]] | Team competition}}

{{MedalGold | [[1992 William Jones Cup|1992 Taipei]] | [[USA Women's R. William Jones Cup Team|Team competition]]}}

{{MedalCompetition | [[FIBA World Championship for Women]]}}

{{MedalBronze | [[1994 FIBA World Championship for Women|1994 Sydney]] | [[United States women's national basketball team|Team competition]]}}

}}

'''Dena Head''' (born [[August 16]], [[1970]]) wasis aan American retired [[Womenwomen's National Basketball Associationbasketball]] basketball player. She is best remembered as the first player ever drafted in the [[Women's National Basketball Association]] (WNBA).

==HighEarly school yearslife==

InAt Plymouth-Salem high school in Canton, Michigan, Head was named Ms.[[Miss Basketball in the state of [[Michigan]]. She won two National Championships and was an [[All-America|All-American]]n. Dena played for Coach Fred Thomann, a former Michigan State University standout.

==College yearscareer==

Head attended the [[University of Tennessee]] withand earned a degree in sports management. She played four years of basketball, while winning the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] women's college basketball championship in 1989 and 1991. Head was named to the 1992 Kodak All-America Team. She was the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year as a senior, and was the 1989 SEC Freshman of the Year. As a senior, she was named to the Naismith All America Team, and in 1990 she was named to the NCAA All Regional Tournament Team East.

She later attended [[Baker College]] as a graduate student.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Player Bio: Dena Head :: Women's Basketball |url=http://ccsubluedevils.collegesports.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/head_dena00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050405230957/ccsubluedevils.collegesports.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/head_dena00.html |archive-date=April 5, 2005 |website=CCSU Blue Devils}}</ref>

She later attended [[Baker College]].

==WNBAUSA careerBasketball==

Head was named to the USA Basketball Women's Junior National Team (now called the [[USA Women's U18 and U19 teams|U19 team]]). The team participated in the second Junior World Championship, held in [[Bilbao, Spain]] in July 1989. The USA team lost their opening game to South Korea in overtime, then lost a two-point game to Australia. After winning their next game against Bulgaria, the USA team again fell in a close game, losing by three points to Czechoslovakia. After beating Zaire in their next game, the USA team played Spain, and fell three points short. Head averaged 6.9 points per game over the course of the event. The USA team finished in seventh place.<ref name="1989 U19"/>

Head was the first player ever drafted in the WNBA. As part of the [[WNBA Elite draft]] in 1997, she was selected 1st overall. She joined the WNBA for two seasons with the [[Utah Starzz]] and one with the [[Phoenix Mercury]].

Head played for the USA team, one of sixteen teams at the fifteenth [[World University Games]] (1991) held in [[Sheffield]], England. The team was coached by [[Tara VanDerveer]], and teammates included [[Lisa Leslie]] and [[Dawn Staley]]. The USA team won all eight games it played, earning the gold medal. Head averaged 6.8 points per game over the course of the event.<ref name="1991 WUG"/>

Head traveled to Taiwan with the team representing the US at the 1992 Women's [[R. William Jones Cup]] competition. Head scored 14 points in the opening game against Japan, which the USA team won. The team went on to win all eight games, and earned the gold medal for the event. The fourth game against Australia was a close match, with the Australians holding a slim lead at halftime, but the USA team came back, helped by Head's 18 points to win the game. Head averaged 11 points per game, and recorded 14 assists, second behind [[Dawn Staley]].<ref name="1992 Jones"/>

Head was named to the USA national team and competed in the 1994 World Championships, held in June 1994 in [[Sydney, Australia]]. She competed along with college teammates [[Daedra Charles]] and [[Carla McGhee]]. The team was coached by Tara VanDerveer, and won their first six games, when they faced Brazil. In a closely contested, high scoring game, Brazil hit ten of ten free throws in the final minute to secure a 110–107 victory. The USA won a close final game against Australia 100–95 to earn the bronze medal.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.usab.com/history/national-team-womens/twelvth-world-championship-for-women-1994.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426082205/http://www.usab.com/history/national-team-womens/twelvth-world-championship-for-women-1994.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 26, 2015|title=Twelfth<!-- "Twelvth" in original --> World Championship for Women -- 1994|access-date=September 8, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref>

==International career==

Before the WNBA, Head played 7seven seasons of professional basketball in [[Brazil]] and in [[Europe]] for [[France]], [[Spain]], Brazil[[Italy]], Italy and [[Hungary]].

==WNBA career==

Head was the first and oldest player drafted in the WNBA. As part of the [[WNBA Elite draft]] in 1997, she was selected 1st overall by the [[Utah Starzz]]. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 61 - 73 loss to the [[Sacramento Monarchs]] where she recorded 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 steals.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscores/199706210UTA.html | title=Sacramento Monarchs at Utah Starzz, June 21, 1997 }}</ref> In her first season, Head played in all but one of the Starzz regular season games and had season averages of 5.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Her career-high in points was a 15-point performance against the [[Houston Comets]] on August 2, 1997.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscores/199708020UTA.html | title=Houston Comets at Utah Starzz, August 2, 1997 }}</ref> The Starzz finished with a league worst 7 - 21 and missed the playoffs.

For her second season, Head stayed with the Starzz and became a started for half of the season. She started in the team's first 8 games, and then 6 of the team's final 8 games (with starting Guard duties going to teammate [[Chantel Tremitiere]] in the middle of the season). Although Head played in more games and started in many more games than her rookie season, her minutes per game was lower (17.4 down to 15.6) and she had lower productivity amongst all of her statistics. Her points per game dropped to 3.6, rebounds dropped to 1.7 and assists dropped to 1.2 in her sophomore season as the Starzz finished with a 8 - 22 record.

On June 9, 1999 (one day before the 1999 season began), Head would be waived by the Starzz and she subsequently missed the entire season.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.courant.com/1999/06/10/transactions-4403/ | title=Transactions | date=June 10, 1999 }}</ref>

The [[Phoenix Mercury]] would be the next stop for Head as she signed with the team on June 19, 2000. This season saw Head see even less playing time and averaging even less numbers, only playing in 17 of the Mercury's remaining 24 season games at 8.8 minutes per game. These minutes resulted in her averaging 1.6 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists. Fortunately, Head would finally reach the playoffs in her career as the Mercury finished 20 - 12 and matched up against the [[Los Angeles Sparks]] in the first round.

Head's final WNBA game was Game 2 of that 2000 Western Conference First Round series on August 13, 2000, against the Sparks. The Mercury would lose the game 76 - 101 and dropped the series to the Sparks 2 - 0. Head recorded 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block in her final game <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscores/200008130LAS.html | title=Phoenix Mercury at Los Angeles Sparks, August 13, 2000 }}</ref>

==Post WNBA career==

Head currently servesserved as women's basketball team assistant coach for the [[Central Connecticut State University]].

Head now works for Amazon as a Manager.

==Career statistics==

{{WNBA player statistics legend}}

===WNBA===

====Regular season====

{{WNBA player statistics start}}

|-

| align="left" | [[1997 WNBA season|1997]]

| align="left" | [[1997 Utah Starzz season|Utah]]

|27||4||'''17.4'''||39.0||31.3||'''84.4'''||'''2.3'''||'''1.7'''||0.5||'''0.3'''||2.3||'''5.7'''

|-

| align="left" | [[1998 WNBA season|1998]]

| align="left" | [[1998 Utah Starzz season|Utah]]

|'''30'''||'''14'''||15.6||'''42.4'''||'''48.1'''||69.7||1.7||1.2||'''1.0'''||0.0||1.5||3.6

|-

| align="left" | [[1999 WNBA season|1999]]

| style="text-align:center;" colspan="13" |''Did not play (waived)''

|-

| align="left" | [[2000 WNBA season|2000]]

| align="left" | [[2000 Phoenix Mercury season|Phoenix]]

|17||1||8.8||36.4||14.3||62.5||1.1||0.9||0.2||0.0||'''0.6'''||1.6

|-

| align="left" | Career

| align="left" | 3 years, 2 teams

|74||19||14.7||39.9||36.4||75.5||1.8||1.3||0.6||0.1||1.6||3.9

{{S-end}}

====Playoffs====

{{WNBA player statistics start}}

|-

| align="left" | [[2000 WNBA Playoffs|2000]]

| align="left" | [[2000 Phoenix Mercury season|Phoenix]]

|1||0||6.0||0.0||0.0||0.0||2.0||1.0||1.0||1.0||1.0||0.0

|-

| align="left" | Career

| align="left" | 1 year, 1 team

|1||0||6.0||0.0||0.0||0.0||2.0||1.0||1.0||1.0||1.0||0.0

{{S-end}}

===College===

{{WNBA player statistics start}}

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1988–89

| style="text-align:left;" | [[1988–89 Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team|Tennessee]]

|'''37'''||-||-||43.9||0.0||'''74.2'''||3.0||3.0||1.1||0.2||-||6.4

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1989–90

| style="text-align:left;" | [[Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball|Tennessee]]

|33||-||-||45.2||'''100.0'''||72.3||5.3||'''3.9'''||1.6||'''0.3'''||-||11.4

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1990–91

| style="text-align:left;" | [[1990-91 Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team|Tennessee]]

|35||-||-||'''50.5'''||49.0||71.3||'''5.7'''||3.7||1.7||'''0.3'''||-||13.1

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | 1991–92

| style="text-align:left;" | [[Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball|Tennessee]]

|30||-||-||48.7||35.9||71.6||5.2||2.7||'''2.0'''||0.2||-||'''13.7'''

|-

| style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 | '''Career'''

|135||-||-||47.4||43.0||72.2||4.8||3.3||1.6||0.3||-||11.0

|- class="sortbottom"

|style="text-align:center;" colspan="14"|Statistics retrieved from [[Sports-Reference]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/Dena-Head-1.html|title=Dena Head College Stats|publisher=[[Sports-Reference]]|accessdate=April 11, 2024}}</ref>

{{s-end}}

==References==

{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="1989 U19">{{cite web |title=Second FIBA Women's U19/Junior World Championship -- 1989 |date=June 10, 2010 |url=http://www.usab.com/history/u19-womens/second-FIBA-womens-u19junior-world-championship-1989.aspx |publisher=USA Basketball |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907033052/http://www.usab.com/history/u19-womens/second-FIBA-womens-u19junior-world-championship-1989.aspx |archive-date=September 7, 2015 |url-status=dead |access-date=October 20, 2015}}</ref>

<ref name="1991 WUG">{{cite web |title=Fifteenth World University Games -- 1993 |url=http://www.usab.com/history/world-university-games-womens/fifteenth-world-university-games-1991.aspx |publisher=USA Basketball |access-date=October 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907023628/http://www.usab.com/history/world-university-games-womens/fifteenth-world-university-games-1991.aspx |archive-date=September 7, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name="1992 Jones">{{cite web |title=1992 Women's R. William Jones Cup |url=http://archive.usab.com/womens/wjcup_1992.html |publisher=USA Basketball |access-date=August 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808043753/http://archive.usab.com/womens/wjcup_1992.html |archive-date=August 8, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

}}

{{navboxes|list=

{{WNBA First Overall Picks}}

{{1997 WNBA draft}}

{{1989 Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball navbox}}

{{1991 Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball navbox}}

{{Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year navbox}}

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Head, Dena}}

==External links==

[[Category:1970 births]]

*[http://ccsubluedevils.collegesports.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/head_dena00.html CCSU Coach Profile]

[[Category:AmericanLiving basketball players|Head, Denapeople]]

[[Category:TennesseeAll-American Ladycollege Volswomen's basketball players|Head, Dena]]

[[Category:UtahAmerican Starzzwomen's players|Head,basketball Denaplayers]]

[[Category:PhoenixAmerican Mercuryexpatriate players|Head,basketball Denapeople in France]]

[[Category:CollegeAmerican women'sexpatriate basketball coaches|Head,people Denain Hungary]]

[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Italy]]

[[Category:Women's National Basketball Association first overall draft picks|Head, Dena]]

[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Spain]]

[[Category:American women's basketball coaches]]

[[Category:Basketball players from Michigan]]

[[Category:Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball)]]

[[Category:Phoenix Mercury players]]

[[Category:Point guards]]

[[Category:Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball players]]

[[Category:FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States]]

[[Category:Summer World University Games medalists in basketball]]

[[Category:Utah Starzz draft picks]]

[[Category:Utah Starzz players]]

[[Category:First overall WNBA draft picks]]

[[Category:United States women's national basketball team players]]