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Tully Bevilaqua

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Tully Bevilaqua
Indiana Fever
PositionAssistant Coach
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1972-07-19) 19 July 1972 (age 52)
Merredin, Western Australia, Australia
Listed height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Listed weight145 lb (66 kg)
Career information
WNBA draft1998: undrafted
Playing career1998–2012
PositionGuard
Coaching career2023–present
Career history
As player:
1991–2000Perth Breakers
1998Cleveland Rockers
2000–2002Portland Fire
2000–2001DJK Wildcats Aschaffenburg
2001–2003GYSEV Sopron
2003–2004Seattle Storm
2003–2004Perth Lynx
2004–2008Canberra Capitals
2005–2010Indiana Fever
2010–2011West Coast Waves
2011–2012San Antonio Silver Stars
As coach:
2023Phoenix Mercury
2024–presentIndiana Fever
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Women's Basketball
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing Team Competition
World Championship
Gold medal – first place 2006 Brazil Team Competition
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2006 Melbourne Team Competition

Tully Louise Bevilaqua (née Crook on 19 July 1972) is an Australian retired professional women's basketball player and current assistant coach for the Indiana Fever. She previously served as an assistant with the Phoenix Mercury in 2023.[1] She formerly played for the San Antonio Stars in the WNBA and the Perth Lynx in Australia's WNBL. The 5'7" Bevilaqua's play style is energetic and disruptive, so much so that she is usually in the top 10 in steals. In the 2005 regular season, she had more steals per turnover than any other player.

WNBA career

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Bevilaqua went undrafted but was signed by the Cleveland Rockers as a free agent before the 1998 season began. She appeared in 12 regular-season games before being waived by the team in July 1998.

In 2000, she signed a free agent contract with the Portland Fire and played with them for three seasons until the franchise folded after the 2002 season.

In 2003, she signed another contract with the Seattle Storm, and played two seasons for them, capping the 2004 season when the Storm won the WNBA Championship, defeating the Connecticut Sun, two games to one.

In 2005, she signed with the Indiana Fever, and led them to a #2 seed in the playoffs, where they swept the New York Liberty in two games, but in turn were swept by the Connecticut Sun in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Bevilaqua did not make the Australian national team until 2006 at the age of 34, when she helped lead the Opals to the gold medal in the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women.

On 27 August 2007, Bevilaqua played a key scoring, defensive, and leadership role in the greatest comeback in WNBA history when the Indiana Fever overcame a 22-point first half deficit to win the deciding game three of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Connecticut Sun. Later that week on 31 August 2007 Tully was awarded the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award from the WNBA.

The WNBA listed Bevilaqua's height at 5'7" (about 170 cm), though she was listed at only 164 cm (about 5'4.5") in the WNBL.

Bevilaqua is one of only four WNBA players to record at least 800 career assists and 500 career steals.[2]

2004 Championship season

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One of the highlights of Bevilaqua's career was her participation on the 2004 Seattle Storm championship team. In the championship series, the Connecticut Sun won the first game of a three-game series. Then, before sold-out crowds at Seattle's KeyArena, Bevilaqua and the Storm won the second and third games to take the crown as champion. Bevilaqua's role in the series was backup point guard to Sue Bird and Betty Lennox, but she contributed in every phase of the game—scoring, rebounding, and playing the tenacious defense that has become her trademark on the Indiana Fever.

Though listed as a backup guard, in the course of the Storm's 2004 championship run Bevilaqua played unusually long minutes. This was most evident in the second game against the Minnesota Lynx. Sue Bird was injured early in the game, and WNBA Finals MVP Betty Lennox quickly got into foul trouble. Storm coach Anne Donovan sent Bevilaqua in to run the offense, and she played 27 minutes to carry the team to victory. The Seattle crowd chanted her name repeatedly during the game.

Accolades

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In August 2021, Bevilaqua was inducted into the Basketball WA Hall of Fame.[3]

Personal life

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Bevilaqua was born in Merredin, Western Australia in 1972.[4] She played Australian rules football as a youth.[5][6][7] Her hobbies include karaoke singing, golfing, tennis, cricket, and reading Patricia Cornwell's novels. Bevilaqua wrote a regular column in The Canberra Times on the progress of the Canberra Capitals during the 2006/07 WNBL season, and helped launch Nfinity's women-specific basketball shoes in 2009.[8]

In 2013, Bevilaqua married her partner Lindsay, with the union becoming official with Indiana's recognition of same-sex marriage in October 2014. Tully and Lindsay have two children, Parker and Mackenzie.[5][9]

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
† Denotes seasons in which Bevilaqua won a WNBA championship

WNBA

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Source[10]

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1998 Cleveland 11 2 11.5 .571 .333 .667 .9 2.1 1.1 .2 .8 1.9
2000 Portland 32° 32° 24.9 .357 .283 .778 3.0 2.8 1.3 .2 2.1 4.8
2001 Portland 31 31 25.4 .328 .315 .732 2.8 3.3 1.9 .2 1.7 4.9
2002 Portland 27 19 15.6 .410 .417 .655 1.2 1.6 .8 .1 1.0 3.1
2003 Seattle 31 0 8.1 .333 .381 .762 .8 1.0 .5 .0 .6 1.9
2004† Seattle 34° 0 10.5 .400 .423 .690 .8 .9 1.1 .1 .8 2.3
2005 Indiana 31 31 28.2 .389 .379 .545 2.0 2.6 1.9 .0 1.6 6.3
2006 Indiana 34° 34° 29.7 .411 .311 .717 2.3 2.3 2.1 .0 1.6 6.6
2007 Indiana 34° 34° 26.5 .440 .371 .682 2.2 2.7 1.6 .1 1.6 5.3
2008 Indiana 30 30 29.2 .405 .337 .607 2.3 2.2 2.0 .1 1.2 5.8
2009 Indiana 34° 32 25.3 .376 .346 .667 2.3 2.9 1.8 .2 1.4 6.1
2010 Indiana 34 27 19.4 .383 .338 .583 2.1 1.6 1.4 .1 1.2 3.9
2011 San Antonio 34° 25 14.5 .451 .286 .722 1.4 1.6 .7 .1 .7 2.9
2012 San Antonio 28 0 5.6 .167 .125 .500 .3 .4 .3 .0 .3 .2
Career 14 years, 5 teams 425 297 20.2 .392 .341 .687 1.8 2.0 1.3 .1 1.2 4.2

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2004† Seattle 8° 0 13.9 .471 .429 .750 2.0 1.4 1.0 .1 1.1 2.8
2005 Indiana 4 4 38.0 .320 .429 .714 2.3 2.8 1.8 .3 2.5 6.8
2006 Indiana 2 2 31.0 .200 .333 .667 3.0 1.0 .5 .0 .0 4.5
2007 Indiana 6 6 35.8 .295 .286 .833 2.7 3.2 1.8 .0 1.3 7.3
2008 Indiana 3 3 31.3 .292 .278 1.000 2.3 2.3 1.0 .0 .3 6.7
2009 Indiana 10 10 22.4 .340 .313 .700 2.3 2.0 1.2 .1 1.1 5.3
2010 Indiana 3 3 22.0 .429 .444 – .7 1.3 .7 .0 1.7 5.3
2011 San Antonio 3 0 12.3 .429 .333 – 2.0 1.0 .0 .7 .7 2.7
Career 8 years, 3 teams 39 28 24.6 .335 .333 .750 2.2 2.0 1.1 .1 1.2 5.1

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "MERCURY ADDS 14-YEAR WNBA VETERAN TULLY BEVILAQUA TO STAFF". mercury.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  2. ^ Peden, Mike (5 August 2011). "Tully Bevilaqua: Role player, role model". TSB Sports. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  3. ^ O'Donoghue, Craig (13 August 2021). "Basketball WA's Hall of Fame to induct 11 people including Luc Longley, Andrew Vlahov and Mike Ellis". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Perth Lynx 2003/04". WNBL.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 November 2003. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  5. ^ a b Butler, Steve (4 January 2015). "Tully's anguish turns to love". The West Australian. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  6. ^ Wurst, Matt (1 June 2005). "Tully Puts it "Onya"". WNBA.com. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  7. ^ Steve, Butler (14 October 2016). "Tully cherishes early lessons". The West Australian. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Sport One Source". Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  9. ^ "Tully Bevilaqua of WNBA and partner get married, but not legally". United Press International. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Tully Bevilaqua WNBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
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