Kisha Ford (born April 4, 1975) is a former WNBA player for the New York Liberty, Orlando Miracle, and the Miami Sol. She attended Bryn Mawr School[1] and played college basketball at Georgia Tech, where she was the all-time leading scorer in team history. She competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 1995 Jones Cup Team that won the Bronze in Taipei.[2] She was selected in the fourth round of the 1997 WNBA Draft at 27th overall by the New York Liberty. Over her WNBA career, she scored 442 points, grabbed 218 rebounds, and had 90 assists, and 111 steals.
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women’s Basketball | ||
| Jones Cup | ||
 | 1998 Taipei | Team Competition |
Georgia Tech
editGeorgia Tech statistics
edit| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| 1993-94 | Georgia Tech | 27 | 437 | 43.0% | 37.5% | 72.4% | 8.6 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 16.2 |
| 1994-95 | Georgia Tech | 28 | 521 | 45.4% | 29.8% | 64.6% | 8.4 | 3.0 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 18.6 |
| 1995-96 | Georgia Tech | 33 | 448 | 40.5% | 24.3% | 68.2% | 6.4 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 16.6 |
| 1996-97 | Georgia Tech | 27 | 549 | 50.3% | 33.3% | 70.4% | 8.6 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 20.3 |
| Career | 109 | 1955 | 44.8% | 29.8% | 68.8% | 8.0 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 17.9 |
WNBA
editFord was drafted in the fourth round (27th overall pick) of the 1997 WNBA Draft by the New York Liberty and played her debut game on June 21, 1997. In that game, the Liberty defeated the Los Angeles Sparks 67 - 57 with Ford recording 3 points, 1 rebound and 1 steal.[6] By averaging 4.1 points and 1.7 rebounds, she helped the Liberty finish the 1997 season with a 17 - 11 record. The Liberty made it to the Finals but would lose to the Houston Comets.
For the 1998 season, Ford would play less minutes per game (16.9 to 15.7) and grabbed less rebounds per game (1.7 to 1.2), but did score more points (4.1 to 4.9) to help the Liberty to a record of 18 - 12. Even with a good record of 18 - 12, the Liberty would not make the playoffs at all (making it the first time in WNBA history that a team missed the playoffs after reaching the Finals the season prior).
On April 6, 1999 an Expansion Draft took place to form the rosters of two new teams, the Orlando Miracle and the Minnesota Lynx. Ford was selected by the Miracle but only played 8 games for the team at 5.6 minutes per game and scored 0.5 points per game.[7] She signed as a free agent to the Miami Sol for the 2000 season, but right before the season began, she would be placed on the team's injured list for a finger fracture on her left hand on June 1, 2000.[8] She would miss the Sol's first 4 games of the season due to injury but make her return on June 10 and go on to average 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds in 28 games. The next season, Ford will remain with the Sol and on August 5, 2001 started a game for the 4th and final time in her career (the previous 3 starts were all in her rookie season in 1997). The Sol finished with a 20 - 12 record and made the playoffs but were eliminated in the first round by the Liberty in 3 games.
A couple of weeks before the 2002 season began, Ford was waived by the Sol on May 16, 2002.[9] After being waived by the Sol, Ford did not play in the WNBA again, and thus the final game of her career was Game 3 of the 2001 Eastern Conference First Round versus the Liberty. That game was played on August 21, 2001 and Ford played for nearly 5 minutes, but recorded no stats other than 1 assist as the Sol lost 61 - 72.[10]
Career statistics
edit| 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 |
WNBA
editSource[11]
Regular season
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | New York | 28° | 3 | 16.9 | .377 | .150 | .614 | 1.7 | .9 | 1.0 | .2 | 1.4 | 4.1 |
| 1998 | New York | 30° | 0 | 15.7 | .435 | .182 | .625 | 1.2 | .8 | 1.1 | .1 | .5 | 4.9 |
| 1999 | Orlando | 8 | 0 | 5.6 | .200 | .000 | 1.000 | .8 | .0 | .3 | .3 | .1 | .5 |
| 2000 | Miami | 28 | 0 | 15.1 | .306 | .250 | .574 | 2.2 | .8 | 1.1 | .0 | 1.0 | 3.6 |
| 2001 | Miami | 30 | 1 | 13.2 | .325 | .091 | .563 | 2.2 | .7 | .6 | .2 | .6 | 2.4 |
| Career | 5 years, 3 teams | 124 | 4 | 14.6 | .366 | .149 | .598 | 1.8 | .7 | .9 | .1 | .8 | 3.5 |
Playoffs
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | New York | 2 | 0 | 9.5 | .000 | .000 | – | .5 | .5 | 1.0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
| 2001 | Miami | 3 | 0 | 6.7 | .200 | – | – | .3 | .7 | .0 | .0 | 0.3 | .7 |
| Career | 2 years, 2 teams | 5 | 0 | 7.8 | .100 | .000 | – | .4 | .6 | .4 | .0 | .2 | .4 |
Notes
edit- ^ Ball, Alex (2006-03-01). "Power Schools". Baltimore Magazine. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
- ^ "1995 WOMEN'S R. WILLIAM JONES CUP". Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
- ^ "NCAA statistics" (PDF). web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ "NCAA statistics" (PDF). web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ "NCAA statistics" (PDF). web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ "New York Liberty at Los Angeles Sparks, June 21, 1997". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ^ Williams, Lena (1999-04-07). "PLUS: PRO BASKETBALL -- W.N.B.A.; Reed Is Top Expansion Pick". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ^ "Kisha Ford". beesball.com. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ^ "Women's basketball transactions". Deseret News. 2002-05-17. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ^ "Miami Sol at New York Liberty, August 21, 2001". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ^ "Kisha Ford WNBA Stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved 20 March 2023.