Jessica Shepard
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| No. 32 – Athinaikos | |||||||||||||||
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| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||
| League | Greek Women's Basketball League | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | September 11, 1996 Fremont, Nebraska, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 186 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school |
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| College |
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| WNBA draft | 2019: 2nd round, 16th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Selected by the Minnesota Lynx | |||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2019–present | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| 2019–2023 | Minnesota Lynx | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Dinamo Sassari | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2024 | Reyer Venezia | ||||||||||||||
| 2024–present | Athinaikos | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Stats at Basketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Jessica Shepard (born September 11, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Athinaikos of the Greek Women's Basketball League. Shepard began her college career at Nebraska, playing there for two seasons before transferring to Notre Dame to complete her career. She was drafted 16th overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2019 WNBA draft.
Family and early years
A Fremont, Nebraska native, Shepard is the daughter of Mark and Kim Shepard.[1] She has four sisters and one older brother.[1] Shepard won a state title while attending Lincoln Southeast High School in 2013, and finished her high school career at Fremont.[2]
WNBA
Minnesota Lynx (2019–present)
Shepard was selected 16th overall in the 2nd round of the 2019 WNBA Draft. Shepard appeared in 5 games of the 2019 season, and averaged 4.6 ppg. On June 8, 2019, in a game against the Los Angeles Sparks, it was determined Shepard had torn her ACL, effectively ending her rookie season.[3]
Shepard missed the 2020 season as she continued to recovery from her ACL injury that she sustained in 2019.[4]
Shepard was suspended for and subsequently missed the entire 2024 season. This was due to contract commitments with her basketball club in Italy, Umana Reyer Venezia and violating the WNBA collective bargaining agreement which requires players to prioritize the WNBA over other international leagues.[5]
National team career
On June 19, 2024, the Basketball Federation of Slovenia announced that Shepard had received Slovenian citizenship and became eligible to play for the Slovenia women's national basketball team.[6]
WNBA career statistics
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Minnesota | 6 | 0 | 18.7 | .379 | .143 | .750 | 5.7 | 3.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 2.5 | 4.8 |
| 2021 | Minnesota | 22 | 0 | 10.5 | .364 | .083 | .750 | 3.2 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 2.0 |
| 2022 | Minnesota | 36 | 22 | 26.1 | .500 | .250 | .734 | 7.4 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 8.1 |
| 2023 | Minnesota | 21 | 17 | 26.9 | .516 | .000 | .774 | 7.0 | 3.1 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 8.1 |
| Career | 4 years, 1 team | 85 | 39 | 21.8 | .482 | .178 | .749 | 6.1 | 2.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 6.3 |
Nebraska and Notre Dame statistics
Source[7]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
| Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Nebraska | 31 | 574 | 51.0% | 0.0% | 58.1% | 8.6 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 18.5 |
| 2016–17 | Nebraska | 29 | 538 | 40.8% | 31.5% | 55.7% | 9.8 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 18.6 |
| 2017–18 | Notre Dame | 38 | 594 | 56.5% | 0.0% | 67.9% | 8.1 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 15.6 |
| 2018–19 | Notre Dame | 38 | 634 | 59.4% | 0.0% | 71.0% | 10.3 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 16.7 |
| Career | 136 | 2340 | 51.6% | 29.5% | 62.4% | 9.2 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 17.2 |
Notes
- ^ a b "Jessica Shepard". University of Notre Dame. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
- ^ writers, Stu Pospisil, Mike Patterson and Nick Rubek / World-Herald staff (3 June 2015). "Notes: Fremont's Jessica Shepard named All-American; more". Omaha World-Herald. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Lynx F Shepard out rest of season with torn ACL". ESPN. Associated Press. June 9, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
- ^ Hansen, Mitchell (27 May 2020). "Minnesota Lynx Announce Final Roster Moves Ahead of 2020 WNBA Season". zonecoverage.com. Zone Coverage. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- ^ "Lynx's Jessica Shepard to miss 2024 season". 31 January 2024.
- ^ "Josh Nebo receives Slovenian passport, will join men's team". basketnews.com. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
- ^ "NCAA Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com and Basketball Reference