Murriel Page


LaMurriel Page is a former American college and professional basketball player who was a forward and center in the Women's National Basketball Association for eleven seasons. Page played college basketball for the University of Florida, and was drafted in the first round of the 1998 WNBA Draft. She played professionally for the Washington Mystics and the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. Currently, she is the assistant women's basketball coach for Central Michigan University.

Early years

Murriel Page was born in Louin, Mississippi in 1975. She attended Bay Springs High School in Bay Springs, Mississippi, where she led her Bay Springs high school basketball team to two state championships.

College career

Page accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she played for coach Carol Ross's Florida Gators women's basketball team. At the end of her Gators career, Page was ranked second all-time in points, rebounds, field goal percentage, and free throws made. She graduated from the University of Florida with her bachelor's degree in 1998, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2009.

Florida statistics

Source
YearTeamGPPointsFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
1994-95Florida3334961.4%0.0%52.2%7.20.90.60.310.6
1995-96Florida3043248.6%0.0%62.9%9.01.61.20.514.4
1996-97Florida3352254.3%0.0%59.9%10.31.60.90.515.8
1997-98Florida3261257.1%16.7%67.3%12.62.21.30.619.1
TOTALSFlorida128191555.0%16.7%61.5%9.81.61.00.115.0

USA Basketball

Page competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 1997 Jones Cup Team that won the silver medal in Taipei. Several of the games were close, with the USA team winning four games by six points or fewer, including an overtime game in the semifinal match against Japan. The gold medal game against South Korea was also close, but the USA fell 76–71 to claim the silver medal for the event. Page was the leading scorer for the team, averaging 14.7 points per game.

Professional career

Page was selected third overall in the first round of the 1998 WNBA Draft by the Washington Mystics, where she played for eight seasons. In March 2006, Page was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks along with Temeka Johnson in exchange for Nikki Teasley. During the 2008–2009 WNBA off-season, she played in Spain with Mallorca. During the 2007–08 off-season she played with San Jose, also in Spain.

College coach

Following her retirement from professional basketball, Page become an assistant coach for the Florida Gators women's basketball team under head coach Amanda Butler for the 2010–11 season.