Mwadi Mabika

Mwadi Mabika
Personal information
Born (1976-07-27) 27 July 1976 (age 48)
Kinshasa, Zaire
NationalityCongolese/American
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
Playing career1991–2008
PositionGuard / forward
Number4
Career history
1991–1997Tourbillon Kinshasa
1997–2007Los Angeles Sparks
1998–1999ASA Jerusalem (Israel)
1999–2000Bnei Yehuda (Israel)
2008Houston Comets
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points3,572 (10.5 ppg)
Rebounds1,327 (3.9 rpg)
Assists778 (2.3 apg)
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing  DR Congo
African Games (All-Africa Games)
Silver medal – second place 2003 Abuja Team

Mwadi Mabika (born July 27, 1976) is a Congolese-American former basketball player. She was an All-Star in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Career

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National and club career in Zaire/DRC

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Mabika represented Zaire at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

She won a silver medal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the 2003 All-Africa Games.[1]

In December 2005, she again represent the DR Congo's women's national basketball team - known as Simba Ladies - at the 2005 FIBA Africa Championship for Women.

For six seasons prior to joining the WNBA, Mabika played for the Tourbillon club in Kinshasa.[2][3]

WNBA

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Mabika was brought to the United States by NBA star and fellow Zairean Dikembe Mutombo, who personally appealed to the government officials in Zaire for permission to bring her to the U.S.[4]

She played for the Los Angeles Sparks during the WNBA's inaugural season in 1997. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 57 - 67 loss to the New York Liberty where she recorded 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals.[5] In her rookie season, Mabika played in 21 of the team's 28 games, averaging 6.0 points and 2.6 rebounds while the Sparks finished with a 14 - 14 record and missed the playoffs.

After her rookie year, Mabika would become the flagship starting guard for the Sparks for the next ten years. From 1998 - 2006, she started in 90% of the games she played for the Sparks (269 out of 298 games) and averaged 11.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists while playing 27.8 minutes per game throughout that 10-year span. Mabika had the most successful years of her career from 2000 to 2002, being selected as an all-star in 2000 and 2002, and winning consecutive championships with the Sparks in 2001 and 2002.

After 11 seasons playing with the Sparks, Mabika signed a free agent contract with the Houston Comets on February 20, 2008. She expressed great interest in signing with the team, stating "I can't wait. I've played with the same team for 11 years and now to have a new opportunity with a new team is exciting. Starting from training camp, I want to offer my leadership experience and the mental toughness that I know teams need to be successful."[6]

Her season with the Comets would coincidentally not only be Mabika's final season in the league, it would also be the Comets' final season as a franchise as the team ceased operations after the 2008 season. She played in 20 of the team's 34 games and averaged 4.6 points and 1.9 rebounds. The Comets finished the season 17 - 17 and missed the playoffs. Her final WNBA game ever was also the Comets' final game as a franchise. This game would be played on September 15, 2008 with the Comets defeating the Sacramento Monarchs 90 - 81.[7]

Personal life

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Mabika studied biology and chemistry at the Massamba School in Kinshasa.

Mabika became a U.S. citizen in 2011.[8] in 2011 she gave birth to a baby girl named Heliana.

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 Los Angeles 21 1 15.5 .390 .184 .542 2.6 1.0 1.1 0.3 1.3 6.0
1998 Los Angeles 29 23 24.5 .339 .308 .698 4.4 1.5 1.0 0.3 1.3 8.2
1999 Los Angeles 32 28 29.3 .372 .281 .718 4.8 3.5 1.4 0.5 1.8 10.8
2000 Los Angeles 32 32 29.4 .388 .384 .820 5.6 3.1 1.8 0.6 1.6 12.3
2001† Los Angeles 28 24 29.6 .387 .382 .861 4.6 3.1 1.4 0.4 1.6 11.2
2002† Los Angeles 32 32 32.8 .423 .366 .839 5.2 2.9 1.2 0.3 1.9 16.8
2003 Los Angeles 32 30 32.6 .407 .264 .866 4.4 2.6 0.9 0.6 2.3 13.8
2004 Los Angeles 31 31 31.1 .415 .404 .824 3.9 2.4 1.2 0.1 1.6 14.4
2005 Los Angeles 17 14 21.6 .320 .224 .500 1.6 1.7 0.9 0.0 0.8 5.8
2006 Los Angeles 32 32 21.2 .377 .333 .889 2.0 1.5 0.6 0.2 1.2 8.5
2007 Los Angeles 33 23 23.1 .364 .310 .754 3.8 2.2 0.9 0.1 2.2 8.1
2008 Houston 20 11 16.4 .303 .274 .714 1.9 0.9 0.5 0.0 0.6 4.6
Career 12 years, 2 teams 339 281 26.3 .385 .327 .799 3.9 2.3 1.1 0.2 1.6 10.5

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1999 Los Angeles 4 4 31.8 .378 .176 .000 4.5 2.8 3.3 0.3 2.5 9.3
2000 Los Angeles 4 4 34.0 .543 .531 .750 5.3 1.0 1.5 1.0 1.3 17.5
2001† Los Angeles 7 7 33.0 .318 .250 .786 6.6 2.4 1.0 0.9 1.4 9.0
2002† Los Angeles 6 6 35.3 .378 .320 .692 6.8 4.2 1.3 0.2 1.7 14.7
2003 Los Angeles 9 9 38.2 .438 .353 .846 5.6 2.3 1.6 0.2 2.2 14.3
2004 Los Angeles 3 3 35.7 .370 .350 .938 2.7 3.3 2.3 0.0 2.0 18.7
2005 Los Angeles 1 1 11.0 .250 .000 .000 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0
2006 Los Angeles 5 4 28.0 .388 .433 .706 4.0 2.0 1.4 0.0 1.6 15.4
Career 8 years, 1 team 39 38 33.5 .400 .350 .769 5.2 2.5 1.6 0.4 1.8 13.4

References

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  1. ^ "Women Basketball VIII Africa Games 2003 Abuja (NGR) - 05-10.10 Winner Nigeria". Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  2. ^ "Mwadi Mabika Player File: Sparks". Archived from the original on 2000-08-23. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  3. ^ "Youyou Mwadi, une star aux USA". Le Soir. September 27, 2007. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  4. ^ "Mwadi Mabika". WNBA. Archived from the original on September 22, 2008.
  5. ^ "New York Liberty at Los Angeles Sparks, June 21, 1997".
  6. ^ https://abc13.com/archive/5970869/ [bare URL]
  7. ^ "Sacramento Monarchs at Houston Comets, September 15, 2008".
  8. ^ "10 more players who helped boost the WNBA". Espn.com. 2016-07-12. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
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