Candice Wiggins

Candice Dana Wiggins (born February 14, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player.

Wiggins played college basketball at Stanford University, where she graduated as the all-time leading scorer in Stanford and Pac-10 women's basketball history.

Throughout her playing career, Wiggins played for the Minnesota Lynx, Tulsa Shock, Los Angeles Sparks and New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and has played overseas in Spain and Greece.

Candice Wiggins was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1987 where her father, Alan Wiggins, played Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles.

After playing for the Orioles, her father, with wife Angela, son Alan Jr., and daughters Cassandra and Candice moved back to the San Diego, California area, where he had previously played for the San Diego Padres.

When Wiggins was three years of age, she was hit by a car backing out of a driveway and almost lost one of her eyes.

When Wiggins was in the first grade, she scored 30 points playing against fourth graders in basketball.

By the time she was in fifth grade, she had to play on boys' teams so she could play at a competitive level.

Wiggins' father died of AIDS when Wiggins was only four years old.

"It was a scary time. No one would talk about it," Wiggins recalls.

"A young girl wants to know about her Dad dying of AIDS. But it was taboo," she said.

Wiggins has partnered with Until There's A Cure (UTAC), a non-profit organization that raises awareness and funds to combat AIDS through the sale of The Bracelet.

Wiggins attended La Jolla Country Day School in La Jolla, California for high school.

She was a four-year letter-winner in both volleyball and basketball.

In all four years of high school she was named CIF Division IV Player of the year for basketball.

Wiggins was a McDonald's All-American as a Senior.

She also led La Jolla Country Day to the state championship game in each of her four seasons, winning it twice.

She also captained the United States Junior National Team that won gold.

Many high school recruiting services listed her as the best shooting guard in the nation and a top five player in the Class of 2004.

When Wiggins came to Stanford University she was offered a scholarship for both basketball and volleyball.

As a freshman on the basketball team, Wiggins led Stanford to a 32–3 record and an Elite Eight appearance.

She averaged 17.5 points per game and was named both the Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year and Player of The Year.

This was the first time in the conference history that a freshman won the Player of the Year Award.

Wiggins, along with Georgia's Tasha Humphrey, was named National Co-Freshman of the Year.

She made second team All-American and was a Kodak All-American, the only freshman on either list.

During her sophomore year, Wiggins led Stanford to a 26–8 record and another Elite Eight appearance where they lost to LSU.

She averaged 21.8 points per game and made 90 three-pointers over the course of the season.

She was again named Pac-10 Player of The Year and Second team All-American, as well as Kodak All-American.

As a junior, Wiggins led Stanford to a 29–5 record and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the Cardinal were upset in Round 2 by Florida State, 68–61.

She missed 5 games due to ankle and hamstring injuries, but averaged 16.9 points per game.

Devanei Hampton of Cal won the Pac-10 Player of the Year Award this season.

However, Wiggins was the only Pac-10 Player to be a Kodak All-American as she again made second team.

Wiggins played for the USA team in the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The team won all five games, earning the gold medal for the event.

In her senior season, Stanford started the season ranked No. 8 but moved up the polls with victories over No. 3 Rutgers (thanks to Wiggins hitting 2 free throws with 0.1 seconds left), and No. 10 Baylor.

She was named the Pac-10 Player of The Year for the 2007–2008 season, the third time she had received the award.

On January 31, 2008, Wiggins scored 18 points in a win over USC at Maples Pavilion and passed Kate Starbird as the all-time leading scorer in Stanford women's basketball history.

On March 2, 2008, she scored 24 points against Washington State to pass Lisa Leslie as the all-time leading scorer in Pac-10 women's basketball history.

On March 24, 2008, Wiggins scored a career-high 44 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, and dished out eight assists in an 88–54 win over UTEP as Stanford advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2008 NCAA tournament.

Wiggins has won a WNBA championship (2011) and a WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year (2008).