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Natalie Williams (born on November 30, 1970 in Long Beach, California) is a professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Contents
1 Early Years
2 ABL Career
3 WNBA Career
4 Trivia
Early Years
Williams is the daughter of Nate Williams, a former basketball player who played for several teams in the National Basketball Association for eight years.
Although she was born in Southern California, she went to high school in Utah.
She went to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and graduated there in 1994. She was a four-year letter-winner in both basketball and volleyball, and is the first woman to earn All-America honors in both basketball and volleyball in the same year. She also led UCLA to NCAA volleyball titles in 1990 and 1991.
ABL Career
Natalie Williams played three seasons for the Portland Power in the American Basketball League (ABL). She was traded to the Long Beach StingRays in April of 1998, but when the team folded, she was reassigned to the Portland Power. She was a two-time All-ABL first team selection, the 1998 ABL M.V.P., finished her first season as the league’s top rebounder, averaging 12.5 rebounds per game, and on January 9, 1999, she grabbed a league record 22 rebounds.
WNBA Career
After the ABL folded, she was selected by the Utah Starzz in the first round (third pick overall) of the 1999 WNBA Draft on May 4, 1999.
She played with the Starzz from 1999 to 2002. However, just a few weeks prior to the start of the 2003 season, she was traded to the Indiana Fever in a multi-player deal on May 1, 2003.
Trivia
Williams won an Olympic Gold Medal as a member of the U.S. women’s basketball team during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
In 2002, she opened a restaurant called Natalie’s in Salt Lake City, Utah.
That same year, just prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics, she carried the Olympic Torch in the Salt Lake City area.
She also was named to the United States’ 2002 World Championship Games team.
She considers Cheryl Miller as her basketball role model.
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