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Vanderbilt’s Jenni Benningfield Drafted by WNBA’s Charlotte Sting 4-19-04 4/19/2004 Vanderbilt forward Jenni Benningfield was selected by the Charlotte Sting in the second round of the 2004 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Draft. The senior co-captain of this season’s Southeastern Conference Tournament Champion Commodore squad was chosen with the 22nd overall selection and joins G/F Nicole Powell of Stanford (third pick), F Kelly Mazzante of Penn State (18th selection) and G Jia Perkins of Texas Tech (35th pick) as choices by the WNBA’s Charlotte franchise. Benningfield is the 10th Commodore to participate as a player in the women’s professional ranks in either the WNBA or the now defunct ABL. Former Vanderbilt player Carolyn Peck served time as the head coach and general manager of the WNBA’s Orlando Miracle. Despite suffering a season-altering stress fracture in her right foot prior to the Syracuse contest on Jan. 2 that limited her for much of the campaign, Benningfield, a Louisville, Ky., native, was named as a second team All-SEC selection by both the Associated Press and the SEC Coaches following a season in which she averaged a team-high 13.1 ppg to go along with 5.9 rpg. She entered the campaign as a candidate for the Wade Trophy, the Naismith Player of the Year and Wooden Awards. She was at her best for the Commodores during the SEC and NCAA Tournaments by averaging 13.5 ppg and 15.3 ppg in the two tournaments, respectively. During Vanderbilt’s title run at the SEC’s, Benningfield totaled 18 points against #19/22 Auburn and 20 tallies against #15/14 LSU despite suffering the debilitating effects of the flu. In the Black and Gold’s three contests in the NCAA’s, she reached double-digits all three times with a high of 23 points in the first round victory over the Lipscomb Lady Bisons. In Vanderbilt’s opening 12 games, Benningfield reached double-figures all 12 times, and posted three double-doubles, while helping the ‘Dores race off to a 10-0 start and a national ranking. Against her hometown school, the Louisville Cardinals, in the final of the Vanderbilt Tournament, Benningfield torched the ‘Cards for one of the SEC’s highest-scoring games of the year with a career-best 34 points on 13-of-20 shooting. In VU’s 74-61 win over Rhode Island at the Gatorade Holiday Classic in Miami, Fla., she tallied 31 points and 13 rebounds. The performance against the Rams garnered the forward her first career SEC Player of the Week nod (Dec. 29th). All-Time Commodores in the Pro Ranks *Did not see time in either league as a player |
