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Fran Belibi

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Fran Belibi
Belibi with Stanford in 2022
Personal information
Born (2001-07-20) July 20, 2001 (age 23)
Kansas City, Kansas
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Career information
High schoolRegis Jesuit
(Denver, Colorado)
CollegeStanford (2019–2023)
PositionForward
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing the  United States
FIBA Under-19 World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2019 Thailand Team
FIBA Under-17 World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2018 Belarus Team
FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship
Gold medal – first place 2017 Argentina Team

Francesca Belibi (born July 20, 2001) is an American former basketball player. She played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal of the Pac-12 Conference where she won the NCAA championship in 2021. Prior to college, she drew national attention in high school for her dunking ability.[1][2][3][4] In 2020, she became the eighth woman to dunk in a women's college basketball game.[5]

Early life

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Belibi was born in Kansas City, Kansas to Franck and Suzanne Belibi, who were born in Cameroon and moved to Belgium before coming to the United States. The family later moved to Centennial, Colorado.[6]

High school career

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Belibi started playing competitive basketball for the first time during her freshman year at Regis Jesuit High School.[7] In 2017, she became the first girl to dunk in a game in Colorado high school history.[8] In February 2019, she pulled off the first ever alley-oop dunk by a female in a high school game in Colorado.[9][10] As a senior she averaged 21.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.4 steals, 2.7 blocks and 2.3 assists per game. She was named a McDonald's All-American in 2019 and went on to become the second woman to win the dunk contest at the McDonald's All American Game, after Candace Parker who won in 2004.[11][12]

College career

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During her freshman season she averaged 6.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 32 games, making six starts.[13] In December 2020, she became the eighth woman to dunk in a college basketball game when she dunked with under a minute left in the first half of Stanford's victory against California.[14][15] Eight days later, she had another dunk in a victory against UCLA.[16]

On April 4, 2021, Belibi won the NCAA championship after Stanford beat the Arizona Wildcats, 54–53, in the national title game.[17]

On March 19, 2022, Belibi had the third dunk in NCAA women's tournament history when she dunked midway through the second quarter of Stanford's 78-37 first round victory against Montana State.[18]

Belibi made the decision to forgo her final year of college eligibility resulting from the extra year of COVID-19 eligibility. Instead, Belibi made the decision to retire from basketball and to pursue a Masters in Education from Harvard University in 2023–24.[19]

National team career

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Belibi has won three gold medals playing for the United States junior national teams, 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup, 2018 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup and the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship.[13]

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

College

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2019–20 Stanford 32 6 13.8 58.2 0.0 61.5 4.5 0.8 0.7 0.7 1.5 6.6
2020–21 Stanford 33 13 14.7 53.1 0.0 63.9 5.0 1.0 0.6 0.6 1.5 7.4
2021–22 Stanford 35 4 13.5 59.0 0.0 61.4 4.5 1.0 0.8 0.5 1.3 7.8
2022–23 Stanford 34 1 10.3 53.7 0.0 54.1 3.5 1.0 0.7 0.5 0.6 4.0
Career 134 24 13.1 56.2 0.0 60.9 4.4 1.0 0.7 0.6 1.2 6.4
Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[20]

Personal life

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Belibi is listed 6'1" in shoes but 5'11" without them. She has a 6-foot-5 wingspan and a 31-inch vertical leap. Belibi has two younger sisters and one younger brother. Fabiola, the second born child will be attending Harvard university for track, Hana, the third oldest is a consensus 4 star recruit in the 2024 class, and her youngest sibling, Franck is a 4 star recruit, and one of the top recruits in 2026.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Sean Keeler (February 28, 2019). "The girl who dunks? Fran Belibi is that, but the Colorado high school basketball star is so much more". Denver Post. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  2. ^ Jenna West (December 13, 2018). "Watch: Stanford Commit Fran Belibi Stuns Crowd With Insane Dunk". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  3. ^ Joe Grobeck (January 13, 2021). "Meet Fran Belibi: The Latest (And Maybe Best) Female Dunker". Fan Buzz. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Katie Barnes (March 25, 2020). "A higher calling". ESPN. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  5. ^ Sydney Umeri (December 30, 2020). "Fran Belibi is changing how women's college ball does dunking". SB Nation. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  6. ^ "Fran Belibi". usab.com. Team USA. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  7. ^ Liz Finny (February 5, 2020). "Women's Wednesday: Fran Belibi, the Stanford freshman that can fly". NBC Sports. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  8. ^ Rivea Ruff (January 7, 2017). "15-Year-Old Fran Belibi Slams 1st Dunk Ever in CO HS Girls B-Ball History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  9. ^ Kendra Andrews (July 2, 2019). "Fran Belibi could change women's basketball, but her focus remains on becoming a doctor". The Athletic. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  10. ^ Tom FitzGerald (March 3, 2019). "Stanford-bound dunking sensation Belibi didn't play basketball until high school". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  11. ^ Michelle R. Martinelli (March 26, 2019). "Meet Fran Belibi, the second woman to win the McDonald's All American dunk contest". USA Today. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  12. ^ Charlotte Carroll (March 25, 2019). "Watch: Fran Belibi Becomes Second Woman to Win Dunk Contest at McDonald's All-American Game". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Francesca Belibi - Women's Basketball". gostanford.com. Stanford University. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  14. ^ Joe Nguyen (December 13, 2020). "WATCH: Former Regis star Fran Belibi breaks away for slam dunk in Stanford-Cal game". Denver Post. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  15. ^ Daniel Martinez-Krams (December 13, 2020). "Fran Belibi makes first career slam dunk". Stanford Daily. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  16. ^ "Regis Jesuit grad Fran Belibi dunks, top-ranked Stanford outlasts UCLA 61-49". Denver Post. December 21, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  17. ^ "Arizona vs. Stanford - Game Summary - April 4, 2021 - ESPN". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  18. ^ Alexa Philippou (March 19, 2022). "Fran Belibi throws down 3rd dunk in NCAA women's tournament history as Stanford demolishes Montana State". ESPN. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  19. ^ Hawe Adugna (April 9, 2023). "Future of the Funky Four: Jones and Prechtel declare for draft, Belibi retires, Jump sticks around". Stanford Daily. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  20. ^ "Fran Belibi College Stats". Sports-Reference. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
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