| 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: | 1998–2004 |
| Team2: | Sacramento Monarchs |
| Highlights: |
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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]
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.
Source[4]
| Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89 | Georgia | 30 | 214 | 48.5% | 63.4% | 4.0 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 7.1 | |
| 90 | Georgia | 29 | 410 | 49.8% | 69.7% | 5.7 | 3.9 | 2.0 | 0.1 | 14.1 | |
| 91 | Georgia | 32 | 413 | 46.8% | 64.7% | 4.4 | 3.0 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 12.9 | |
| 92 | Georgia | 30 | 361 | 43.1% | 63.6% | 3.8 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 12.0 | |
| Career | Georgia | 121 | 1397 | 46.9% | 65.6% | 4.4 | 3.6 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 11.5 |
Source[5]
|-| 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
|-| 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