Sophia Young

High school years

She was born on Saint Vincent, West Indies. Young attended the Evangel Christian Academy in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States.

College career

Young was an All-American at Baylor University and helped lead the team, nicknamed the Lady Bears, to their first national championship during the 2005 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, defeating Michigan State University. She is one of only four women in NCAA history to score 2,000 points, grab 1,000 rebounds, collect 300 steals, as well as dish out 300 assists.

• Big 12 10th Anniversary Team (only active player named to the five person squad)
• Big 12 Player of the Year
• Kodak All-American (second straight year)
• AP All-American (first team)
• USBWA All-American (second straight year)
• All-Tournament team Albuquerque Regional
• Big 12 Championship All-Tournament team (third straight year)
• Wooden Award Finalist
• Wade Trophy Finalist
• Naismith Trophy Watch List
• All-Big 12 first team (third straight year)
• All-Big 12 Defensive team
• Bayer Senior CLASS Award Finalist
• Big 12 Player of the Week (three-time)
• Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll (4.0 GPA)

College statistics

Source

WNBA career

Young was selected as the fourth overall pick in the 2006 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars. During her nine-year career, all with the Stars, she was named to the Western Conference WNBA All-Star team three times.

In 2015, Young announced her retirement from the WNBA .

USA Basketball

Young was one of 21 finalists for the U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Team Roster for the 2010-2012 cycle. The 20 professional women's basketball players, plus one collegiate player (Brittney Griner), were selected by the USA Basketball Women's National Team Player Selection Committee to compete for the final roster which will represent the US at the 2012 Olympics in London. Young was named to the National team training pool again for the 2014-2016 cycle on 13 January 2014.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | 34 || 34 || 31.1 || .416 || .000 || .730 || 7.6 || 1.5 || 1.7 || 0.4 || 1.32 || 12.0 |- | 33 || 33 || 33.5 || .478 || .000 || .749 || 5.8 || 1.5 || 1.5 || 0.4 || 1.85 || 16.8 |- | 33 || 33 || 31.9 || .478 || .000 || .786 || 5.6 || 2.3 || 1.6 || 0.5 || 1.73 || 17.5 |- | 33 || 33 || 33.7 || .454 || .309 || .767 || 6.5 || 1.6 || 1.3 || 0.5 || 1.88 || 18.2 |- | 34 || 34 || 31.8 || .501 || .263 || .658 || 5.2 || 2.4 || 1.6 || 0.3 || 2.06 || 15.3 |- | 33 || 33 || 31.6 || .429 || .000 || .592 || 6.4 || 2.3 || 2.0 || 0.5 || 1.55 || 13.2 |- | 33 || 33 || 31.8 || .521 || .000 || .706 || 7.2 || 2.1 || 2.2 || 0.4 || 1.70 || 16.3 |- | 34 || 20 || 24.3 || .469 || .000 || .658 || 4.6 || 1.5 || 1.1 || 0.2 || 0.76 || 8.2 |- | 34 || 29 || 27.4 || .458 || .000 || .738 || 5.0 || 1.4 || 1.2 || 0.3 || 1.62 || 11.5 |- | 301 || 282 || 30.8 || .468 || .223 || .718 || 6.0 || 1.8 || 1.6 || 0.4 || 1.61 || 14.3

Postseason

|- | 5 || 5 || 34.4 || .507 || .000 || .844 || 9.0 || 1.6 || 0.8 || 0.4 || 1.60 || 20.2 |- | 9 || 9 || 36.1 || .456 || .000 || .750 || 5.9 || 1.7 || 1.6 || 0.1 || 2.11 || 17.7 |- | 3 || 3 || 32.0 || .458 || .500 || .684 || 5.3 || 2.0 || 2.0 || 0.7 || 1.67 || 19.3 |- | 2 || 2 || 33.0 || .406 || .000 || .556 || 9.0 || 2.5 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 3.50 || 15.5 |- | 3 || 3 || 34.0 || .633 || .000 || .667 || 5.7 || 3.0 || 1.3 || 0.6 || 1.33 || 16.7 |- | 2 || 2 || 35.5 || .533 || .000 || .889 || 5.0 || 0.5 || 2.5 || 0.6 || 2.00 || 20.0 |- | 2 || 0 || 27.0 || .500 || .000 || .429 || 5.0 || 1.5 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 1.00 || 8.5 |- | 26 || 24 || 34.1 || .486 || .333 || .734 || 6.5 || 1.8 || 1.5 || 0.4 || 1.88 || 17.5

Personal life

She is married to Jermaine Malcolm and the mother of two children, Skye and Sevyn.

Young-Malcolm holds a Bachelors Degree in Education from Baylor University. Along with a master's degree in education from the University of Phoenix and another master's degree in Christian ministries from the Liberty Theological Seminary.

In August 2013, Young said that she was against same-sex marriage on Twitter, in response to San Antonio – where she was playing at the time – proposing legislature adding gender identity and sexual orientation to the city’s non-discrimination laws. Her comments were decried by LGBT advocacy groups and fans, as well as Laurel J. Richie, then-president of the WNBA, and four-time league MVP Lauren Jackson.

Awards and achievements

• 2008–2009 FIBA Eurocup Winner with Turkey Galatasaray
• 2009 WNBA All-Star Selection

Notes

References

1. Smith, Derek. "Bigger than Basketball".
2. (2023-08-11). "Sophia Young adds on Assistant Coach’s duties". [[Searchlight (newspaper).
3. "Sophia Young Malcolm To Retire Following 2015 WNBA Season {{!}} San Antonio Spurs".
4. Voepel, Mechelle. (13 January 2014). "USA Basketball sets 33-player pool". ESPN.com.
5. "Sophia Young-Malcolm - Assistant Coach/Director of Player Development - Staff Directory".
6. Abad-Santos, Alexander. (2013-08-30). "WNBA Star Doesn't Care What She's Voting For, She Just Doesn't Like Gays".
7. Bennett-Smith, Meredith. (2013-09-01). "Sophia Young, WNBA All-Star, Publicly Opposes Same-Sex Marriage Despite League's LGBT Fan Base".
8. "Galatasaray Win EuroCup Women After OT Thriller {{!}} EuroCup Women (2009)".
9. "Women's Basketball Player stats".
10. (February 13, 2012). "Twenty-One Finalists In The Mix For Final 2012 U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Team Roster". USA Basketball.