2013 Class of FIBA Hall of Fame: profile of Teresa Edwards (USA)

MIES (FIBA Hall of Fame) - On Monday 27 May, FIBA announced the 2013 Class of Inductees of the FIBA Hall of Fame. Over the next three weeks (weekdays from 28 May to 12 June), we will profile all 12 of the inductees. Today we look at the USA's Teresa Edwards.

The stage didn't matter for Teresa Edwards. Be it in the NCAA with Georgia, where she was a two-time All-American, Olympics, FIBA World Championships or Pan American Games with the United States or as a professional at home or abroad, she was a tough-as-nails point guard and always one of the sport’s brightest stars.

Now 48, Edwards, who finished her glittering playing career in 2004 with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, is to be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.

The native of Cairo, Georgia, captured four gold medals and a bronze during an Olympic career that began in 1984 in Los Angeles and finished at Sydney 2000.

She is the only American to have represented a USA Basketball team at five Olympic games.

Edwards also won world titles in 1986 and 1990, and a bronze in 1994.

As an Olympian, the 1.80m playmaker is USA's all-time assists leader with 143.

She also ranks first in steals with 59, third in points with 265 and fifth in rebounds with 68.

Her 15 assists in a 96-79 win over Australia at the 1996 Atlanta Games is a single-game record.

At FIBA World Championships, Edwards is the USA's all-time leading scorer with 175 points.

She holds the single-game marks of 32 points in triumphs over Canada and Cuba at the 1990 event. Edwards buried 52% (26 of 50) of her attempts, a success rate that ranks first overall among USA players at FIBA World Championships.

Edwards, who led Georgia into the women's NCAA Final Four in 1983 and 1985, launched her professional career in 1987 with Vicenza in Italy and went on to play all over Europe and as far away as Japan, where she turned out for Mitsubishi Nagoya (1989-93).

In 2002, Edwards captured a EuroLeague Women crown with French outfit Valenciennes.

After her playing career, Edwards coached in the WNBA from 2006-11.

Upon hearing the news that she was in the 2013 FIBA Hall of Fame class, she said: "What can I say? It (basketball) took me all around the world.

"Now the FIBA Hall of Fame is calling me home to stay forever."

FIBA