Jae Kingi-Cross

Jae Monique Kingi-Cross (née Kingi; 20 January 1976) is a New Zealand-born Australian former basketball player and coach. She played for the Detroit Shock, Houston Comets, Phoenix Mercury, and San Antonio Silver Stars of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Kingi-Cross was the first player of Māori descent to be selected in the WNBA draft.

Jae Kingi-Cross

Personal information
Born	(1976-01-20) 20 January 1976 (age 49)[1] Wellington, New Zealand
Career history
2001, 2004	Detroit Shock
2004	Phoenix Mercury
2006	San Antonio Silver Stars
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Women's Basketball Representing  Australia World Championships 2002 China Team Competition Commonwealth Games 2006 Melbourne Team Competition

Professional career

In the domestic Women's National Basketball League (WNBL), Kingi-Cross played 192 games for the Australian Institute of Sport and the Adelaide Lightning.^[2][3] Kingi-Cross was also twice named to the WNBL All-Star Five, in seasons 2000/01 and 2001/02.^[4]

In 2001, Kingi-Cross moved to the United States to play in the Women's National Basketball Association where she was selected in the second round (pick 22 overall) of the 2001 WNBA draft by the Detroit Shock.^[5] Kingi-Cross also played with the Phoenix Mercury (2004), the San Antonio Silver Stars (2006) and the Houston Comets (2007).^[6][7][8] Entering the 2006 World Championship held in Brazil, Kingi-Cross was the only Australian playing in the WNBA who was not selected in the Opals team.^[9]

National team career

Kingi-Cross was a member of the Australia women's national basketball team for 12 years, from 1995-2006 and was in the squad that won a bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships held in China.^[10][11] Pregnancy kept Kingi-Cross out of the 2004 Olympic squad that went to Athens.^[12]

Coaching career

Kingi-Cross spent five seasons as an assistant coach and two seasons as associate head coach with the Rice Owls women's basketball team. She served as head coach of the St. Thomas Celts women's basketball team from 2015-2023.^[13]

Career statistics

Legend

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

WNBA regular season statistics^[14]

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2001	Detroit	29	17	21.6	.387	.375	.722	2.2	2.6	1.1	0.3	1.8	5.8
2002	Did not appear in league
2003	Did not play (maternity leave)
2004	Detroit	5	0	3.0	—	—	.750	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.6
	Phoenix	13	0	9.8	.333	.429	.714	1.0	0.9	0.4	0.2	0.5	1.5
2005	Did not play (waived)
2006	San Antonio	18	1	6.4	.444	.333	.778	0.6	0.6	0.3	0.0	0.3	1.4
Career	3 years, 3 teams	65	18	13.6	.388	.376	.732	1.3	1.5	0.6	0.2	1.0	3.3

Personal life

In 2008, she was inducted into her home town of Canberra's Sports Hall of Fame.^[15] Kingi-Cross and her husband, Tom Cross, live in Texas with their four daughters.^[10]

See also

• List of Australian WNBA players