2007 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year Candice Wiggins Named WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year

New York  - Sept. 25, 2008  - WNBA

Minnesota Lynx guard Candice Wiggins, a member of the 2007-08 USA Basketball Women's National Team, earned 2008 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year honors. The No. 3 draft pick in 2008 and the 2007 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year, Wiggins missed part of her first WNBA training camp while getting valuable experience playing alongside veterans like Lisa Leslie, Taj McWilliams-Franklin and Katie Smith at the 2008 Good Luck Beijing Tournament.

Wiggins had plenty of big-time game experience before stepping on the court as a pro. A NCAA Final Four contender at Stanford, Wiggins has stood atop the gold medal podium in international play at the 2007 FIBA U21 World Championship, 2007 PAn American Games, 2005 FIBA U19 World Championship, 2005 International Sports Invitational and 2004 FIBA Americas U18 Championship; while earning silver playing against strong national teams at the 2008 Good Luck Beijing Tournament. In addition to collecting the 2007 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year honor, Wiggins was voted the July 2007 U.S. Olympic Committee Female Athlete of the Month and named to the 2005 FIBA U19 World Championship All-Tournament Team.

Wiggins made an immediate impact on the Minnesota Lynx as a rookie, helping to push the team to a 5-0 start to the season with wins over 2007 WNBA Finalists Phoenix and Detroit. Despite missing the playoffs, she helped propel the Lynx to 16 wins, the second-best total in team history and a six-game improvement on 2007. Wiggins wrapped up the season second on the team in points (15.7 ppg) and assists (3.0 apg). Despite coming off the bench in all but one of her 30 games played, she placed behind only Seimone Augustus in minutes per game among Lynx players.

Her 15.7 points per game slotted her in the top 20 among league leaders and second among all rookies while setting the all-time WNBA record for scoring by a player off the bench (Chamique Holdsclaw, 15.0, 2006). Wiggins was the only player in the WNBA to come off the bench and score more than 12 points per game. Her scoring average also placed her In the team's 96-88 loss to Houston on July 17, Wiggins set her career-high in points with 27.

With seven 20-or-more-point efforts, Wiggins submitted the Lynx's top seven performances off the bench in franchise history, while also eclipsing Holdsclaw's league record (six, 2006) for 20-point games as a reserve. Paced by their standout rookie, the Lynx set the all-time WNBA record for average points by reserves (33.9 ppg), surpassing the 33.4-points-per-game mark Sacramento set in 2006.

Wiggins was honored with the Hanns-G ‘Go Beyond' Rookie of the Month award for her performance in June. For the month, she averaged 18.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 11 games.

A standout in her four years at Stanford, Wiggins was drafted No. 3 overall by the Lynx in the 2008 WNBA Draft, just days after leading the Cardinal to the NCAA Championship game. As a senior, she won the 2008 State Farm Wade Trophy as the national player of the year and was a four-time Kodak/WBCA All-America selection. She left Palo Alto, Calif. as the all-time leading scorer in both Stanford and Pac-10 history.