Career
Catchings played for Duncanville High School in Duncanville, Texas, where she was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored twelve points. She is also the first player in history to be officially credited with scoring a quintuple-double.
Catchings was an All-American with the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball for 1997–2001. As a freshman on the undefeated 1997–98 National champions, she was part of the "Three Meeks" with Semeka Randall and Chamique Holdsclaw. Catchings was drafted by the Indiana Fever in 2001. Unable to play in the 2001 season due to an ACL injury sustained during her senior year at Tennessee, she had an outstanding year in 2002 and was named WNBA Rookie of the Year. She has led Indiana Fever in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in 6 of her 11 WNBA seasons. Catchings played for the USA women's basketball team at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, helping the team win the gold medal.
In 2005, she scored her 2,000th point in the WNBA. With this she became the fastest player to score 2000 career points in the WNBA, reaching the milestone in only four seasons of play. She is also the fastest to 1,000 rebounds, 400 assists, and 300 steals. In 2005, Catchings was also named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Catchings then repeated as Defensive Player of the Year in 2006. She was again named Defensive Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010. Also during the 2009 season she led her Indiana Fever to their first ever Eastern Conference championship, however they fell short in their quest to win the WNBA title as they were defeated in five games by the Phoenix Mercury.
In 2006, she was voted in to the 2006 WNBA All-Star Game, and was also the leading vote-getter, but had to sit out because of a foot injury. At half-time she was announced as a member of the All-Decade Team along with 9 other players and former Comets coach Van Chancellor. Five years later she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in the fifteen year history of the WNBA.
In 2011, she was the Most Valuable Player in the WNBA. The next year she became the MVP of the WNBA Championships, leading her team past the defending champion Minnesota Lynx in 4 games. She became the 9th player to win an NCAA Championship, a Gold Medal in the Olympics, and a WNBA Championship. The other players who did that are Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Maya Moore, Ruth Riley, Sheryl Swoopes, Diana Taurasi and Kara Wolters.
Catchings is a 7-time WNBA All-Star, a 5-time All-WNBA selection and is famous for recording the first ever quintuple double (25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 steals and 10 blocks in 1997). She serves as President of the WNBA Players Association as of the 2012 season.
Read more about this topic: Tamika Catchings
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