April 5, 2006
Boston, Mass. -
University of Missouri senior guard LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) was selected by the Charlotte Sting in the second round of the WNBA Draft, held Wednesday in Boston. Moments later, she was joined by Tiger teammate Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire), who was chosen in the third round by the New York Liberty. The Tiger duo represented two of the four Big 12 Conference players to be chosen on the day.
Bond and N'Garsanet were the 27th and 37th overall picks in the draft, respectively, and they join former Mizzou All-Americans Evan Unrau (Washington Mystics, 2004) and Amanda Lassiter (Houston Comets, 2001; currently with the Minnesota Lynx), and Marlena Williams (Indiana Fever, 2001), among Mizzou's five all-time WNBA draft selections.
Bond was the second Big 12 Conference player taken on the day, as the San Antonio Silver Stars took Baylor's Sophia Young with the fourth overall pick. N'Garsanet was the third Big 12 player chosen, and was followed by Erin Grant of Texas Tech, who was taken with pick No. 39 by the Seattle Storm.
Bond and N'Garsanet were part of the nucleus that led Mizzou to its best-ever season in the Big 12 Conference, securing a top-four finish for the first time in the league's 10 years. That resulted in the Tigers' ninth NCAA Tournament berth in school history, and second in three years.
Bond averaged a team-high 17.3 points per game to rank fifth in the league, and earned Honorable Mention All-America status from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. She was also a consensus All-Big 12 First Team selection, and was chosen by the league's coaches to the All-Big 12 Defensive Team. Among her numerous achievements were scoring a Mizzou Arena-record 34 points vs. Western Michigan on Dec. 29. She is one of only three players in Mizzou history - joining Hall of Famer Joni Davis and current Assistant Coach Kerensa Barr - to score 1,000 points and dish out 300 assists in a career.
N'Garsanet led the Tigers in rebounding with 8.6 boards a game, and was second in scoring at 13.1 ppg. A consensus All-Big 12 Second Team pick, N'Garsanet had 13 double-doubles on the year, including eight in her final 10 games at Mizzou.
The Sting begin their season against the expansion Chicago Sky on Saturday, May 20, in the first of four straight home games. Charlotte is currently scheduled for one national telecast, a June 13 matchup at Washington on ESPN2. New York opens the same night at Connecticut, and has national TV games set for May 30 (ESPN2), June 3 (ABC), July 18 (ESPN2), and Aug. 13 (ABC).
LaToya Bond CAREER STATS
Total 3-Point Rebounds
Year GP GS FG FGA Pct FG FGA Pct FT FTA Pct Tot Avg PF FO Ast TO Blk Stl Pts Avg
2002-03 29 0 33 88 .375 7 20 .350 20 31 .645 39 1.3 39 1 21 36 3 27 93 3.2
2003-04 21 18 74 176 .420 12 47 .255 54 68 .794 76 3.6 53 0 95 79 8 40 214 10.2
2004-05 29 28 118 267 .442 25 76 .329 85 114 .746 143 4.9 79 2 116 117 12 65 346 11.9
2005-06 31 31 185 369 .501 44 113 .389 119 143 .832 119 3.8 75 4 99 104 26 63 533 17.2
TOTAL 110 77 410 900 .456 88 256 .344 278 356 .781 377 3.4 246 7 331 336 49 195 1186 10.8
Christelle N'Garsanet CAREER STATS
Total 3-Point Rebounds
Year GP GS FG FGA Pct FG FGA Pct FT FTA Pct Tot Avg PF FO Ast TO Blk Stl Pts Avg
2003-04 28 1 39 86 .453 0 0 .000 23 50 .460 81 2.9 38 1 12 32 14 17 101 3.6
2004-05 29 28 147 316 .465 0 0 .000 70 146 .479 189 6.5 75 2 51 77 37 42 364 12.6
2005-06 31 31 162 362 .448 0 1 .000 81 181 .448 268 8.6 94 3 67 88 39 43 405 13.1
TOTAL 88 60 348 764 .455 0 1 .000 174 377 .462 538 6.1 207 6 130 197 90 102 870 9.9