Celeste Taylor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Celeste Taylor
Taylor with Ohio State in 2024
No. 6 – Indiana Fever
PositionGuard
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (2001-06-20) June 20, 2001 (age 22)
Queens, New York, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Career information
High school
College
WNBA draft2024: 2nd round, 15th overall pick
Selected by the Indiana Fever
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 Under-16 Americas Championship
Gold medal – first place 2017 Argentina Team

Celeste Yvonne Taylor (born June 20, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball at Texas, Duke, and Ohio State.

High school career[edit]

Taylor played varsity basketball for Valley Stream South High School in Valley Stream, New York in seventh grade. One year later, she transferred Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School in Brookville, New York, where she became a starter as a freshman.[1] As a senior, Taylor was named New York Gatorade Player of the Year. She was selected to play in the McDonald's All-American Game and Jordan Brand Classic.[2] Taylor was named Newsday Long Island Player of the Year in her final two years.[3] Rated a five-star recruit by ESPN, she committed to playing college basketball for Texas over offers from Stanford, Notre Dame, Ohio State and South Carolina, among other programs.[4]

College career[edit]

As a freshman at Texas, Taylor averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, leading the team with 31 three-pointers. She was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.[5] She averaged 12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game as a sophomore, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention. For her junior season, Taylor transferred to Duke and averaged 11 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.[6][7] In her senior season, Taylor was named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-ACC, while averaging 11.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game. She set a program single-game record with 10 steals in a second-round loss to Colorado at the 2023 NCAA tournament.[8] Taylor transferred to Ohio State for her fifth season.[9]

National team career[edit]

Taylor won a gold medal with the United States national under-16 team at the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Women's Americas Championship in Argentina. She started in all five games and averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.[10] Taylor played at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 Women's Basketball World Cup in Belarus, averaging 6.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game en route to a gold medal.[11] She won a third gold medal with the national under-19 team at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup in Thailand, where she averaged five points and 2.6 rebounds per game.[12]

Career statistics[edit]

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[edit]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2019–20 Texas 30 26 27.9 34.0 28.4 70.8 4.8 1.5 1.4 0.7 2.8 9.3
2020–21 Texas 28 26 32.0 35.3 29.7 58.9 4.9 2.0 2.1 0.6 2.5 12.3
2021–22 Duke 23 22 28.5 38.8 33.3 69.0 5.5 2.1 1.8 0.5 2.8 11.0
2022–23 Duke 33 33 28.9 39.4 32.1 67.5 4.8 2.5 2.2 0.6 2.2 11.4
2023–24 Ohio State 32 32 28.7 40.9 32.0 64.3 4.1 3.4 2.5 0.9 2.4 10.1
Career 146 139 29.2 37.6 31.1 66.3 4.8 2.3 2.0 0.7 2.5 10.8
Statistics retrieved from Sports-Reference.[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ DeJohn, Kenny (April 13, 2019). "Newsday's All-Long Island girls basketball team". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  2. ^ DeJohn, Kenny (March 10, 2019). "LI Lutheran's Celeste Taylor named Gatorade New York Girls Basketball Player of the Year". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  3. ^ Sarra, Gregg (April 13, 2019). "LuHi's Andre Curbelo, Celeste Taylor did it all en route to Newsday Player of the Year honors". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  4. ^ Amato, Laura (November 14, 2018). "Long Island Lutheran basketball star Celeste Taylor commits to Texas". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  5. ^ Moyle, Nick (June 7, 2020). "Back in New York, UT's Celeste Taylor still grinding". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  6. ^ Adler, Em (April 10, 2021). "Duke women's basketball adds another former 5-star recruit in transfer Celeste Taylor". Duke Chronicle. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  7. ^ Adler, Em (November 2, 2022). "Duke women's basketball 2022-23 player preview: Celeste Taylor". Duke Chronicle. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  8. ^ Backstrom, Andy (April 21, 2023). "Scarlet Sunrise: Duke guard Celeste Taylor transfers to Ohio State". On3. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  9. ^ Philippou, Alexa (April 20, 2023). "Former Duke star Celeste Taylor transferring to Ohio State". ESPN. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  10. ^ Olson, Dan (December 3, 2017). "Elite junior Celeste Taylor gives verbal commitment to Texas". ESPN. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  11. ^ Taylor, Myah (September 15, 2019). "Celeste Taylor is a 'perfect fit' at Texas". The Daily Texan. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  12. ^ "Women's Basketball's Taylor, USA win gold medal at FIBA U19 World Cup". University of Texas Athletics. July 28, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  13. ^ "Celeste Taylor College Stats". Sports-Reference. Retrieved April 16, 2024.

External links[edit]