Lady Grooms Explained

Lady Grooms
Birth Date:12 September 1970
Birth Place:Raleigh, North Carolina
College:Georgia (1989–1992)
Height Ft:5
Height In:10
Weight Lbs:160
Career Start:1997
Career End:2004
Career Position:Guard
Career Number:27
Draft League:WNBA
Draft Year:1997
Draft Round:Initial allocation
Draft Team:Utah Starzz
Years1:1997
Team1:Utah Starzz
Years2:19982004
Team2:Sacramento Monarchs
Highlights:
  • 2x First-team All-SEC (1990, 1992)
  • SEC All-Freshman team (1989)

Lady Grooms (born September 12, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player, who was one of the 16 original WNBA players allocated to the teams in the new league's Initial Player Allocation draft (as Lady Hardmon). After a college career at the University of Georgia, she played 8 WNBA seasons and had career averages of 4.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game, scoring over 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds.[1]

WNBA career

Grooms was selected in the initial player allocation of the 1997 WNBA draft by the Utah Starzz on January 22, 1997. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997, in a 61–73 loss to the Sacramento Monarchs where she recorded 6 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds. Grooms would only play for the Starzz for one season, playing in 28 games and averaging 5.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists.

On May 5, 1998, Grooms was traded to the Monarchs for Chantel Tremitiere and she would play for the Monarchs for the remainder of her career. For the Monarchs, Grooms played 217 games and averaged 4.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists.

Her final WNBA game ever was Game 1 of the 2004 Western Conference First Round on September 24, 2004, in a 72–52 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. Grooms played for 3 minutes and recorded no stats in that game.[2] She would also not play for the remainder of the playoffs, and the Monarchs would get eliminated in the Western Conference Finals 2 - 1 by the Seattle Storm.

Grooms is currently the director of basketball operations, director of diversity and head coach of the varsity girls' basketball team at the Sharpsburg Campus of Trinity Christian School in Georgia.[3] She was formerly the director of basketball operations and the head girls basketball coach at Landmark Christian School in Fairburn, Georgia. Grooms was also the former head coach of the girls basketball team at Greater Atlanta Christian in Norcross, Georgia and she previously coached the varsity girls basketball team at Arlington Christian School in Fairburn, Georgia. In her first two seasons coaching the team, it won the state title each year in the GISA.

Career statistics

College

Source[4]

YearTeamGPPointsFG%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
89Georgia3021448.5%63.4%4.01.50.80.27.1
90Georgia2941049.8%69.7%5.73.92.00.114.1
91Georgia3241346.8%64.7%4.43.01.90.012.9
92Georgia3036143.1%63.6%3.86.02.00.212.0
CareerGeorgia121139746.9%65.6%4.43.61.70.111.5

WNBA

Source[5]

Regular season

|-| style="text-align:left;"| 1997| style="text-align:left;"| Utah| style="background:#D3D3D3"|28° || 24 || 24.7 || .347 || .100 || .655 || 3.0 || 2.4 || .8 || .1 || 2.8 || 5.5|-| style="text-align:left;"| 1998| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| style="background:#D3D3D3"|30° || 29 || 26.4 || .487 || .167 || .670 || 2.7 || 1.6 || .7 || .1 || 1.7 || 7.1|-| style="text-align:left;"| 1999| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| style="background:#D3D3D3"|32° || 1 || 14.1 || .357 || .000 || .698 || 1.7 || 1.2 || .3 || .1 || 1.1 || 3.1|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2000| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| 30 || 3 || 13.4 || .443 || .000 || .754 || 1.5 || .4 || .3 || .1 || .7 || 4.1|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2001| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| 31 || 0 || 17.5 || .430 ||  - || .741 || 2.5 || 1.2 || .5 || .3 || .8 || 4.5|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2002| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| style="background:#D3D3D3"|32° || 26 || 26.6 || .431 || .000 || .855 || 3.1 || 1.2 || .7 || .3 || 1.4 || 7.1|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2003| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| style="background:#D3D3D3"|34° || 9 || 13.8 || .402 || .000 || .808 || 1.4 || .9 || .5 || .1 || .6 || 3.3|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2004| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| 28 || 0 || 8.4 || .288 ||  - || .917 || .6 || .4 || .3 || .1 || .1 || 1.8|-| style="text-align:left;"| Career| style="text-align:left;"| 8 years, 2 teams| 245 || 92 || 18.1 || .409 || .095 || .741 || 2.1 || 1.2 || .5 || .1 || 1.1 || 4.6

Playoffs

|-| style="text-align:left;"| 1999| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| 1 || 0 || 25.0 || .429 ||  - ||  - || 5.0 || 1.0 || 1.0 || .0 || 2.0 || 6.0|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2000| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| 2 || 0 || 11.5 || .500 ||  - || 1.000 || 1.0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .5 || 1.5|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2001| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| 5 || 0 || 6.2 || .286 ||  - || .833 || .8 || .2 || .0 || .0 || .6 || 1.8|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2003| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| 6 || 0 || 10.8 || .583 ||  - || .500 || .8 || .5 || .2 || .0 || .2 || 1.5|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2004| style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento| 1 || 0 || 3.0 || .000 ||  - ||  - || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0|-| style="text-align:left;"| Career| style="text-align:left;"| 5 years, 1 team| 15 || 0 || 9.8 || .448 ||  - || .778 || 1.1 || .3 || .1 || .0 || .5 || 2.2

Notes and References

  1. News: Lady Grooms - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. 2017-09-07. en-US.
  2. https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscores/200409240SAC.html
  3. https://www.times-herald.com/sports/trinity-christian-hires-former-uga-star-lady-grooms/article_557e9774-d8ad-11ed-8ab5-7b35a018cacf.html
  4. Web site: Georgia Media Guide. 2017-09-07.
  5. Web site: Lady Grooms WNBA Stats. Basketball Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. 2 December 2023.