Tara Williams (basketball)

Tara Williams (born July 23, 1974) is a former professional basketball player who played college basketball for the Auburn Tigers women's basketball team at Auburn University from 1995 to 1997. She also played in the WNBA in 1997 for the Phoenix Mercury and in 2000 for the Portland Fire.

Auburn statistics
Source

WNBA
Although not part of the initial player allocation, elite draft or college draft, Williams was fortunately able to sign a contract with Phoenix Mercury on May 22, 1997 for the WNBA's inaugural season in 1997. Her debut game was played on June 22, 1997 in a 76 - 59 win over the Charlotte Sting where she recorded 9 points and 4 rebounds. Williams would only play in 12 of the Mercury's 28 regular season games (mostly missing the month of July where she played in 1 out of 12 games). The Mercury finished 1st in the western conference with a 16 - 12 record and made it to the playoffs where they would be defeated by the New York Liberty 41 - 59 in the semi-finals. Williams had a playing time of only 52 seconds, and this game would end up being Williams only playoff game in her career.

Williams would be moved from the Mercury to the Detroit Shock on February 18, 1998 as part of the expansion drive for newly-formed teams. Unfortunately, she would never play for the Shock and missed the 1998 and 1999 seasons. Looking for a comeback, Williams would sign with the Sacramento Monarchs for the 2000 season. But two weeks before the Monarchs' was set to have their season opener, Williams was waived by the team on May 15, 2000.

The newly formed Portland Fire would be the next stop for Williams. After missing two back-to-back seasons, the team picked up her contract and she played her first game for the team on June 3, 2000 recording 10 points, 2 rebounds and 1 steal. Williams played in many more games for the Fire than she did her rookie year with the Mercury, appearing in 26 of the Fire's 32 games. The Fire finished with a 10 - 22 record and missed the playoffs.

Williams would be waived by the Fire on April 17, 2001 (three days before the 2001 Draft) and did not play in the WNBA again. The final game of her career was the Fire's final regular season game that season. The game coincidentally took place against William's former team (Mercury) on August 9, 2000 and the Fire would lose the game 60 - 68 with Williams scoring 7 points.

For her career, Williams played in 38 games and averaged 3.1 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.4 assists.