Penny Toler (born March 24, 1966) was a Women's National Basketball Association basketball player. She is currently the general manager of the Los Angeles Sparks.

Contents 1 College years 2 WNBA career 3 International career 4 Career Statistics 5 External links

[edit] College years

Toler began her college career at San Diego State, sat out a year, and then transferred to Long Beach State, where she became an All-American basketball player. She was also a member of two Final Four teams in 1987 and 1988. She was also considered one of the best ever collegiate players under future hall of fame coach Joan Bonvicini. In 1995 she was inducted into the Long Beach State Athletic Hall of Fame.

[edit] WNBA career

Toler was a point guard allocated to the Los Angeles Sparks during the player initiation round in the 1997 WNBA draft. She is most commonly remembered as the first player to score a basket in the WNBA. She did so against the New York Liberty on June 21, 1997 19:01 hour^{[citation needed]} at the Los Angeles Great Western Forum. Her shot was a side jumper. Toler also made the first free throw in the WNBA history.

In November 1999 she retired as a player to become the general manager of the Los Angeles Sparks. Immediately after taking on a management role, she would assemble the Los Angeles Sparks roster that would become the championship team in 2001.

Among all professional men or women sports league, Toler would become the fastest person to go from a player to general manager status to winning a championship in the short span of just 2 years.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] International career

By the time the WNBA launched, Toler had already spent 8 years playing basketball overseas. She has played five seasons in Italy, two seasons in Greece, and a season in Israel. While in Italy, she won a scoring title, two assist titles, and was MVP of the Italian all-star game.

She was named to the United States Olympic basketball committee in 2004.

[edit] Career Statistics

WNBA Career Totals

Year	Team	G	GS	MIN	FGM	FGA	FTM	FTA	3PTM	3PTA	REB	AST	STL	TO	BLK	PTS
1997	LA	28	28	907	144	338	73	87	7	38	94	143	36	107	3	368
1998	LA	30	30	945	145	349	55	74	25	60	106	143	32	101	3	370
1999	LA	30	4	427	51	150	39	45	2	13	43	66	13	40	0	143
Totals		88	62	2,279	340	837	167	206	34	111	243	352	81	248	6	881

WNBA Career Averages

Year	Team	MIN	FG%	FT%	3PT%	REB	AST	STL	TO	BLK	PTS
1997	LA	32.4	.426	.839	.184	3.4	5.1	1.3	3.8	0.1	13.1
1998	LA	31.5	.415	.743	.417	3.5	4.8	1.1	3.4	0.1	12.3
1999	LA	14.2	.340	.867	.154	1.4	2.2	0.4	1.3	0.0	4.8
Totals		25.9	.406	.811	.306	2.8	4.0	0.9	2.8	0.1	10.0

WNBA Career Playoff Totals

Year	Team	G	GS	MIN	FGM	FGA	FTM	FTA	3PTM	3PTA	REB	AST	STL	TO	BLK	PTS
1999	LA	4	0	42	4	12	2	4	0	1	6	2	2	3	0	10

WNBA Career Playoff Averages

Year	Team	MIN	FG%	FT%	3PT%	REB	AST	STL	TO	BLK	PTS
1999	LA	10.5	.333	.500	.000	1.5	0.5	0.5	0.8	0.0	2.5

[edit] External links

• USATODAY Recognition