Chiney Ogwumike’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Chinenye “Chiney” Ogwumike (born March 22, 1992) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is 6’3″ and plays power forward. She attended Cypress Fairbanks High School in Cypress, Texas, winning the 5A State Championship in her sophomore and senior seasons. as well as playing in three Final Fours with Stanford University. She holds the record for most rebounds in the history of Stanford Women’s Basketball and the Pac-12 Conference, as of January 3, 2014. She is the younger sister of Nneka Ogwumike who also plays in the Women’s National Basketball Association. In 2014, Ogwumike signed an endorsement deal with Nike soon after being drafted first overall in the WNBA. As of 2016, Ogwumike was elected Vice-President of the WNBA Players Association.

High school

Ogwumike was named a WBCA and McDonald’s All-American. She participated in the 2010 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored 24 points, and earned MVP honors for the White team.

College

Ogwumike chose Stanford over Connecticut and Notre Dame, joining her sister Nneka Ogwumike. While at Stanford, Ogwumike produced a series of viral videos about the university’s student athlete culture.

Ogwumike ended 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.

Stanford statistics

Source

WNBA career

Ogwumike was drafted first overall in the 2014 WNBA draft by the Connecticut Sun. In her rookie season, Ogwumike 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. Ogwumike would also win the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2014. Ogwumike sat out the entire 2015 season while recovering from a micro-fracture on her right knee that she sustained months before the season. Ogwumike would come 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. In December 2016, it was announced that Ogwumike had undergone surgery after injuring her achilles while playing overseas in China during the WNBA offseason. She is currently ruled out with an estimated recovery period of 6–9 months, which will likely cause her to miss the 2017 WNBA season.

WNBA statistics

Regular season

Overseas career

In the 2014–15 European season, Ogwumike played in Italy for Famila Schio. During the 2016 WNBA season, Ogwumike had signed with Henan Yichuan of the WCBA for the 2016–17 Chinese season. In her fifth game with the team, Ogwumike scored 56 points (on 23 of 24 field goal shooting) along with 12 rebounds She would end up winning first round MVP, averaging 33.6 points per game and 12.4 rebounds per game, prior to her achilles injury.

USA Basketball

Ogwumike was named to the USA Basketball U18 team. The USA team 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. Ogwumike started all five games and was the leading scorer with 13.2 points per game. She was also the leading rebounder with 7.4 rebounds per game. The USA team won all five games and captured the gold medal.

The usual sequence is for the players on the U18 team to move to the U19 team. However. Ogwumike played so well as a U18 that she was promoted to the World University Games team for the 2011 World University Games held in Shenzhen, China. Chiney was not the only Ogwumike on the team, as her sister, Nneka Ogwumike, was also on the team. Both started every game, with Chiney scoring almost ten points per game. 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

• 2010—WBCA High School Coaches’ All-America Team
• 2011—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
• 2013—Pac-12 Player of the Year
• 2013—Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
• 2014—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