Kelsey Minato (born September 18, 1994) is an American former basketball player.[1]
Minato lead her junior high school team to victory in the Coastal Athletic League for the 6th/7th grade division basketball two years in a row. At the time, she was enrolled at Dwyer Middle School, and resided in Huntington Beach, California. She played for the Swish Future which is affiliated with the prestigious Cal Swish program. She placed first for her city in the Elks Free Throw Shootout.
She played for West Point, and was described as "the greatest basketball player to come out of a service academy since David Robinson".[2] On February 14, 2014, she set the NCAA single-game record for free throw efficiency, making 26-of-26 free throws as part of a 49-point scoring effort.[3][4][5]
Minato was MVP of the 2014 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament,[6] and of the 2016 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament.
In the first round of the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, Minato was the first player at West Point, either men or women, to have their jersey retired while still active.[7][8] She came into the game with a long streak of double digit scoring. Although she was scoreless in the first half, she ended up with 10 points, the last two of which came with just over 10 seconds left in the game, to extend her double digits going straight to 112 games.[7]
In May 2016, she was given a waiver from her service commitment to try out for the WNBA.[4] Minato tried out with the WNBA's San Antonio Stars, but was cut "after more than a week of tryouts" during which she "saw 10 minutes of action in two exhibition games in Connecticut".[9]
External links edit
References edit
- ^ Hays, Graham (January 21, 2016). "Kelsey Minato is the best player in Army Black Knights history". ESPN.
- ^ "Meet best service academy player since David Robinson". MSN.com. (March 8, 2016).
- ^ McMillan, Ken. "Minato sets 17 scoring records in tough loss to Cross".
- ^ a b "WNBA: Army star Minato gets a chance to play in WNBA". Troy Record.
- ^ "Army star Kelsey Minato gets a chance to play in WNBA". USA Today. May 7, 2016.
- ^ "Army women beat Holy Cross to win Patriot League". USA Today. March 15, 2014.
- ^ a b "Army vs. Syracuse - Game Recap - March 18, 2016 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- ^ "NCAA women's tournament Sioux Falls regional: South Carolina a top seed". USA Today. March 14, 2016.
- ^ "Ex-Army star Minato cut by WNBA team". Times-Herald Record. May 10, 2016.
 | This open draft remains in progress. |