Elena Delle Donne

Elena Delle Donne (born September 5, 1989) is an American professional basketball player with the Chicago Sky in the Women's National Basketball Association.

High school
Delle Donne gained national recognition as a high school basketball star at Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Delaware. She led Ursuline to three straight Delaware State Championship titles and was ranked as the number-one overall high school recruit by Scout.com as well as a McDonald's All-American. She was the first and only student at Ursuline so far to score 2,000+ points during her high school career and also set the girls' high school national record for consecutive free throws made (80) in 2005–2006.

Delle Donne was also named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2007 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored 17 points, and earned MVP honors for the Red team.

She also participated in volleyball. Delle Donne won the volleyball DIAA state championship with Ursuline in 2007. She posted a season high 20 kills against Padua during a game involving the number one and two teams in the state.

College
Following an outstanding prep career during which she became the most highly-touted women's basketball recruit since Candace Parker, Delle Donne received a basketball scholarship from the University of Connecticut. However, in early June 2008, Delle Donne abruptly dropped out of Connecticut's summer school program after just two days in Storrs. Delle Donne was very close to her family, especially her older sister Lizzie, who has cerebral palsy, and is blind and deaf. She wasn't ready to be separated from her family. Gene, Elena's brother and the middle child of the Delle Donne family, would say in a 2012 ESPN story on his younger sister,"Her relationship with Lizzie is huge. It's so close. It's a big reason why she is such a homebody who came home from UConn, because she craves to be around Lizzie and to experience Lizzie grabbing her and sniffing her and just spend quality time with her."

A week after leaving Connecticut, Delle Donne said by telephone from her home in Wilmington that she has "a lot of personal issues to fix. Only my family understands what's going on. Right now I am going to take a long personal break." She took a similar break prior to the 2007–08 season in high school.

On August 16, 2008, Delle Donne announced she would not accept the scholarship due to burnout, and instead decided to enroll at the University of Delaware and join their volleyball team as a walk-on. She played middle hitter at UD for the 2008–2009 season. The 2008 Delaware Blue Hens finished their season with a record of 19–16. They were 9–5 in their conference (Colonial Athletic Association) and won the Conference tournament. They earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but lost to Oregon in the first round. Delle Donne did not continue on the volleyball team in 2009, but joined the basketball team.

On June 2, 2009, Delle Donne announced that she would play basketball for the Blue Hens in the 2009–10 season as a redshirt freshman. In 2012, ESPN writer Graham Hays would say about her return to the sport that "it cannot be complete coincidence that it came the year Gene returned to Delaware and went to work for his dad's company."

Delle Donne had a very productive freshman season. She averaged 26.7 points per game, the third-highest of all Division I women's basketball players. She scored 54 points in a loss against James Madison on February 18, 2010, which was the highest single-game point total by any Division I female basketball player that season. She was named the CAA Rookie of the Week six times, and the player of the week once during 2009–10.

She was voted the CAA's "Player of the Year" and "Rookie of the Year" in women's basketball by CAA coaches, sports information directors and media. This was the first time a player had won both awards in one year since Old Dominion's Lucienne Berthieu did so in 1999. No men's player has ever won both awards in the same season. In her sophomore season, the team started off well, but then Delle Donne began to develop flu-like symptoms. In a game against Penn State, she asked to be taken out of the game, something she had never done before. After many tests, the doctors finally diagnosed her with Lyme disease. She struggled the rest of the season, but she helped her team reach the finals of the conference tournament and an invitation to the Women's NIT.

Delle Donne was selected to the 2011 USA Basketball Team for the World University Games played August 12–23 in Shenzhen, China. Delle Donne led the team to a gold medal with a perfect 6–0 record and averaged 15.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists. In the Championship game won by the USA 101–66 over Taiwan, Delle Donne scored 18 points on 8–14 shooting and led the team with 11 rebounds and 8 assists.

As a junior, Delle Donne led the nation in scoring, finishing the season with an average of 28.1 points per game.

On February 16, 2012, Delle Donne scored 42 points in a win over Hofstra, eclipsing the 2,000 point mark for her career.

During the 2012–2013 season, Delle Donne again fought Lyme Disease, missing four games due to the illness. Delle Donne returned on December 12 against Maryland and led the team with 19 points and 6 rebounds in a 69–53 loss. This game was the largest crowd (5,089) to ever to see a women's basketball game at the Bob Carpenter Center, the Blue Hens' homecourt.

Delle Donne has led her team in scoring in 22 regular season games during her senior season, as well as in rebounds (12 times). She has also scored more than 30 points on five occasions this season, leading her team to a 27–3 regular season record entering CAA Conference tournament play.

WNBA career
Following her collegiate career, Delle Donne was selected second overall in the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky, a team that went 14–20 in the 2012 season. She was one of twelve players to be invited to the event.

Basketball awards and honors

 * 2004 – USA Today Freshman All-America, Nike All-America Camp, Street & Smith Preseason All-America Honorable Mention, All-State First Team
 * 2005 – Scout/FCP SUPER SIX, Parade All-America Fourth Team, EA Sports All-America, Gatorade Delaware Player of the Year, DSBA Delaware Player of the Year, Street & Smith All-American Third Team, All-State First Team 2005
 * 2006 – Slam Magazine All-American First Team, Women's Basketball Magazine All-American First Team, Parade All-American First Team, Sports Illustrated All-American Second Team, EA Sports All-American, USA Today All-American Third Team, Gatorade State Player of the Year, All-State First Team 2006
 * 2007 – Parade All-American Third Team, Gatorade State Player of the Year, First-ever cover subject of GIRL magazine
 * 2008 – McDonald's All-American Team, USA Today National Player of the Year and First Team All-America, Naismith Prep Player of the Year, Gatorade National Player of the Year, EA Sports Player of the Year
 * 2013 – Academic All-America Team, Senior CLASS Award

Personal life
Her parents are Ernie, a real estate developer, and Joanie. Her older brother Gene played college football as a tight end, first at Duke and then Middle Tennessee; after he graduated from Middle Tennessee in 2009, he returned to Delaware to work in their father's company. Her older sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) is blind and deaf and has autism and cerebral palsy.