| Rhonda Mapp | |
| Position: | Center |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 2 |
| Weight Lb: | 190 |
| Birth Date: | 13 October 1969 |
| Birth Place: | Asheville, North Carolina |
| Nationality: | American |
| High School: | Asheville (Asheville, North Carolina) |
| College: | NC State (1988–1992) |
| Draft League: | WNBA |
| Draft Year: | 1997 |
| Draft: | Elite Draft |
| Draft Pick: | 3 |
| Draft Team: | Charlotte Sting |
| Years1: | 1997–2000 |
| Team1: | Charlotte Sting |
| Years2: | 2001, 2003 |
| Team2: | Los Angeles Sparks |
| Stats League: | WNBA |
| Stat1label: | Points |
| Stat1value: | 1369 (8.4 ppg) |
| Stat2label: | Rebounds |
| Stat2value: | 788 (4.8 rpg) |
| Stat3label: | Assists |
| Stat3value: | 237 (1.5 apg) |
Rhonda Mapp (born October 13, 1969) is a former professional basketball player. She played 6 years of professional basketball overseas before joining the WNBA in 1997. After her time in the WNBA, Mapp continued to play overseas, including time in Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Israel, and Korea.
Rhonda Mapp was hired as the coach at Queen's Grant High School in Matthews, North Carolina. Queen's Grant is a charter school for students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County area and has an enrollment of about 500. Mapp led Asheville to a state-championship in 1987 and has her jersey (No. 51) retired at the school. She still holds the school record for rebounds in a season (514) and career (1,032).[1]
A dominant low-post player, Rhonda Mapp was named to the first-team All-ACC squad in 1991 and 1992. Mapp helped lead the Wolfpack to a three-year record of 67-25 as well as NCAA Tournamentappearances in 1989 and 1991. In 1991, she helped lead the Wolfpack to win the ACC Championship and was named to the first-team All-tournament team and shot 57.6 percent for the season State finished with a No. 7 final national ranking by the Associated Press and 10th by USA Today. Inher final season in 1992, Mapp led the ACC in scoring (22.0) and rebounding (9.8) and finished her collegiate career with 1,553 points, which still ranks 10th on the Wolfpack career scoring list. She also ranks 5th at NC State in career scoring average (17.6), 9th in career field goals made (625), 4th in career field goal percentage (.578), 9th in rebounds (810) and 6th in career double-doubles (37). Played five seasons professionally in the WNBA with the Charlotte Sting (1997–99) and Los Angeles Sparks (2001, 2003).[2]
Source[3]
| Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988-89 | NC State | 29 | 416 | 64.4% | 0.0% | 71.5% | 8.2 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 14.3 | |
| 1990-91 | NC State | 32 | 542 | 57.6% | 41.7% | 70.1% | 9.6 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 16.9 | |
| 1991-92 | NC State | 27 | 595 | 53.9% | 36.4% | 69.5% | 9.8 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 22.0° | |
| Total | 88 | 1553 | 57.8% | 37.3% | 70.2% | 9.2 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 17.6 |
Mapp was the third pick in the 1997 WNBA Elite Draft selected by the Charlotte Sting.[4] Her debut game was played on June 22, 1997 in a 59 - 76 loss to the Phoenix Mercury where she recorded 10 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block.[5]
As a member of the Sting, Mapp played in 109 games, starting in 93 of them and averaged 10.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2 assists in 25.8 minutes per game. The club made it to the playoffs in the first 3 of the 4 years Mapp was a player, and were eliminated in the semi-finals in 1997 and 1998. In the 1999 season however, the Sting made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. And despite Mapp averaging 8.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in the ECF, the Sting were eliminated by the New York Liberty.[6]
After four seasons in Charlotte, Mapp was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks along with E.C. Hill, in exchange for Allison Feaster and Clarisse Machanguana on October 11, 2000. Her first season with the Sparks was also her first season completely as a role player, as Mapp did not start a single game out of the 30 she played in the 2001 season. After averaging 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds as a reserve, the Sparks finished the season 28 - 4 and reached the WNBA Finals against Mapp's former team, the Charlotte Sting. In that Finals series, Mapp only played in Game 2 and recorded 4 points and 2 rebounds as the Sparks swept the Sting 2 - 0.
Although the Sparks would repeat as WNBA Champions in 2002, Mapp missed the entire 2002 season because of unspecified personal reasons.
In 2003, Mapp became the first player to be dismissed for violation of the league's anti-drug program.[7] She still played for the Sparks that season, starting in 4 of her 24 games and averaged 2.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.6 minutes (her lowest minutes per game average in her career). The Sparks finished 24 - 10 and made it to the Finals, however, due to Mapp's suspension, she missed the last 4 games of the regular season and did not play in the playoffs at all.
Mapp's final WNBA game ever ended up being the last game she played during that 2003 Sparks season. The game was played on August 14, 2003 in a 87 - 83 win over the Minnesota Lynx as Mapp recorded 2 points, 1 rebound and 2 blocks.[8]
|-| style="text-align:left;"|1997| style="text-align:left;"|Charlotte| 28 || 23 || 25.4 || .492 || .500 || .774 || 5.5 || 2.3 || 0.8 || 0.4 || 2.4 || 11.6|-| style="text-align:left;"|1998| style="text-align:left;"|Charlotte| 21 || 14 || 21.7 || .506 || .100 || .750 || 4.2 || 1.6 || 0.6 || 0.4 || 1.9 || 10.1|-| style="text-align:left;"|1999| style="text-align:left;"|Charlotte| 30 || 26 || 26.3 || .500 || .111 || .721 || 6.4 || 1.9 || 0.8 || 0.4 || 2.0 || 9.5|-| style="text-align:left;"|2000| style="text-align:left;"|Charlotte| 30 || 30 || 28.5 || .460 || .364 || .830 || 6.8 || 2.1 || 1.0 || 0.8 || 2.0 || 11.9|-| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|2001†| style="text-align:left;"|Los Angeles| 30 || 0 || 13.2 || .415 || .000 || .750 || 2.6 || 0.5 || 0.5 || 0.2 || 0.8 || 4.2|-| style="text-align:left;"|2003| style="text-align:left;"|Los Angeles| 24 || 4 || 10.6 || .500 || .000 || .500 || 2.8 || 0.3 || 0.3 || 0.3 || 0.5 || 2.6|-| style="text-align:left;"|Career| style="text-align:left;"|6 years, 2 teams| 163 || 97 || 21.2 || .479 || .264 || .768 || 4.8 || 1.5 || 0.7 || 0.4 || 1.6 || 8.4
|-| style="text-align:left;"|1997| style="text-align:left;"|Charlotte| 1 || 1 || 36.0 || .333 || — || 1.000 || 7.0 || 3.0 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 2.0 || 12.0|-| style="text-align:left;"|1998| style="text-align:left;"|Charlotte| 2 || 2 || 32.5 || .571 || .000 || 1.000 || 7.0 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 0.5 || 1.0 || 13.5|-| style="text-align:left;"|1999| style="text-align:left;"|Charlotte| 4 || 4 || 30.3 || .531 || .333 || .538 || 7.0 || 1.0 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 2.0 || 10.5|-| style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|2001†| style="text-align:left;"|Los Angeles| 5 || 0 || 5.4 || .333 || — || — || 1.4 || 0.6 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.4 || 1.2|-| style="text-align:left;"|Career| style="text-align:left;"|4 years, 2 teams| 12 || 7 || 20.8 || .486 || .250 || .700 || 4.7 || 1.0 || 0.2 || 0.1 || 1.2 || 7.3[9]
Mapp has a father named Kenneth. In 1998, she founded the nonprofit Follow Your Dreams Inc.[10]