Essence Carson
Los Angeles, California
2016 WNBA Champion
Playing for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (opens in new tab)
Personal: Lists music as her passion outside of basketball ... serves as Senior Manager of Label Relations at Motown Records ... has worked as a manager at Priority Records, a hip-hop label owned by Capitol Records ... plays the piano, bass guitar, drums and saxophone.
2022 Season: Started first eight games before missing remainder of the season … ranked 18th on the leaderboard with 3,350 points ... tallied season-high 573 points in Week Two opener against Team Harrison … averaged 12.0 points per game ... scored in double figures five times … contributed 4.5 rebounds per contest, including season-high 11 caroms in double-double effort against Team Mitchell in Week One … opened season with back-to-back 15-point performances ... shot 6-for-16 in season opener against Team Russell before going 6-of-9 from the field against Team Mitchell two nights later … matched season high with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting to begin Week Two against Team Harrison … converted 5-of-6 field goal attempts in 13-point showing during Week Two finale against Team Cloud ... also posted 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting on Feb. 11 against Team Hawkins.
Other Professional Experience: 13-year WNBA veteran who played in 367 career games, including 197 starts ... averaged 7.2 points and 2.3 rebounds during regular season career ... drafted No. 7 overall by New York Liberty in 2008 WNBA Draft ... spent eight seasons with New York before three seasons with Los Angeles Sparks ... helped Sparks win 2016 WNBA title ... played 2019 season with Phoenix Mercury before splitting 2020 campaign between Washington and Connecticut ... played internationally during off-season in Turkey, Spain, France, Hungary and Israel.
College Experience: Two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year winner at Rutgers who played in 133 career games ... ranks 24th in school history with 1,262 career points ... also grabbed 707 career rebounds, good for 14th on Scarlet Knights’ career list ... led Scarlet Knights to 2007 NCAA Final Four title game ... also played for Team USA during collegiate career, winning four gold medals ... inducted into Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020.
