Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Sport: Basketball

Monique Ambers

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Tunisia

Monique Ambers joins Monarchs head coach Maura McHugh, Michele Cherry and Steve Shuman to complete the coaching staff.

This is Ambers’ second coaching position, having been an assistant coach at George Washington University from 1994 – 1997. During that time, the Lady Colonials amassed an 80-19 record. The former professional basketball player was initially drafted by the Phoenix Mercury in the fourth round of the 1997 WNBA draft. Ambers reached the WNBA Semifinals with this team. In 1997, Ambers averaged .444 field goal percentage, .400 free throw percentage and 1.2 rebounds per game in 19 games played for Phoenix. Ambers will focus on developing the skills of the post players and advanced scouting for the Monarchs.

A 1993 graduate of Arizona State University, Ambers holds a bachelor of science degree in Child Development.

Lynette Woodard

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Saudi Arabia

Considered one of basketball’s greatest female players, Lynette Woodard excelled in the sport during her professional career in the 1980s and 1990s. A two-time Olympic Game basketball player, Woodard served as co-captain of the United States’ gold medal team in 1984. She became the first female member of the famed Harlem Globetrotters in 1985, and was named Big Eight Player of the Decade for the 1980s. In 1996 Woodard was named best female player in Big Eight Conference history, having set career records for scoring and rebounding. After a four-year retirement in the mid-1990s, Woodard returned to join the new Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), playing for the Cleveland Rockers and the Detroit Shock. A worldwide basketball star, Woodard is known equally well in her native United States as in Italy and Japan, where she has also played professionally.

Kym Hampton

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Thailand

Kym Hampton is a former professional basketball player who completed a 15 year career in the WNBA, Spain, Italy, France and Japan. A high school basketball and track star from Louisville Kentucky, Ms. Hampton was inducted into the Dawahares KHSAA Hall of Fame in 2005. She attended Arizona State University on a full athletic scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Kym will go down as one of the most decorated players to ever wear a Sun Devil jersey. To date, she remains the all-time leading scorer and rebounder (male or female) in ASU history. During Kym’s 12th season in Europe, the WNBA was formed. Ms. Hampton
was the 4th pick in the Elite first round draft, by the New York Liberty. Kym was voted starting center in the WNBA’s inaugural All-Star game. During Kym’s three year tenure, she started every game for the Liberty until a knee injury curtailed her career.

Hampton has lived one dream through basketball and is pursuing others in the world of sports and entertainment. As a person who has always worked to reach goals and follow her dreams, she also encourages everyone to do the same, especially our youth. Two of her favorite sayings are; “Be the best YOU that you can be.” and “As adults, we must lead with our actions, not our words”.

Keia Howell

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Rwanda
  • 2014  –  South Africa

Keia received her Bachelors in Kinesiology and her Masters in Sports Management from LSU. Once she graduated, Keia quickly realized that even though she had earned two degrees, she did not have a plan and was completely undecided about the direction of her professional career.

After accepting a few positions in collegiate and professional sports, she realized she wasn’t happy with the path her career had taken. She recognized that she was qualified to do more than work in the sports arena. Sports played an integral role in her life and it was where she felt most comfortable, which made change very frightening. She took a chance and interviewed for a pharmaceutical sales position and has worked in the industry for 17 years prior to founding iLettered and her non-profit organization, After Life Consulting.

Kayte Christensen

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2011  –  Venezuela

Kayte Christensen was a fan favorite both on and off the court throughout her WNBA career.

As a professional athlete, one of her top priorities was to give back to her fans and community. For her efforts, she was awarded the offseason WNBA Community Assist Award in 2003 and 2004. During the offseason, she stayed in her team’s market to work with local schools, Boys & Girls Clubs and other community organizations.

Additionally on an international scale, Christensen conducted a series of training camps for Palestinian youths and coaches as part of the “Shooting Stars Basketball Camp,” July of 2010, in Ramallah and Bethlehem. The Basketball Camp is a joint-program coordinated between the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem and the Palestinian National Committee of Summer Camps (NCSC). Approximately 200 Palestinian children from Ramallah and Bethlehem participated in the training sessions. The camps promote confidence, self-esteem, team-building and respect among participants, in addition to promoting mutual understanding between Americans and Palestinians.

In December 2010, she traveled to Dakar, Senegal for two weeks during the World Festival of Black Arts and Culture. While in Senegal, she helped organize four basketball clinics that hosted over 200 local boys and girls. In addition to working with the local children, she met with the US Delegation and spoke on behalf of the NBA and WNBA’s experiences in Africa and efforts to make a positive impact in the community.

Christensen came to the Chicago Sky as a free agent after her second tour of duty with the Phoenix Mercury. In 2007, she helped keep the Sky in contention for a playoff spot throughout the season with some quality minutes off the bench. Christensen started seven of the 23 games in which she played, averaging just over two points and nearly two rebounds per game. Due to a back injury, she was released from the Sky during the 2008 season.

Prior to joining the Sky, she began her career playing four seasons in the desert as a member of the Phoenix Mercury. She enjoyed a career year in her second season in the league, starting 16 games and averaging nearly seven points. She opened the 2006 campaign with the Houston Comets after signing as a free agent, but rejoined the Mercury later in the year when she was waived by Houston.

A graduate of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB), Christensen averaged 14.5 points and 9.1 rebounds as a senior and was named Big West Conference Player of the Year and All-Big West First Team.

In her offseasons, she has played internationally in Turkey, South Korea, Russia and Greece.

Christensen is currently a journalist for ESPN.

Katie Smith

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2011  –  India

Katie Smith was born on June 4, 1974, in Logan, Ohio. She began playing basketball in the fifth grade. Smith attended The Ohio State University from 1992-1996, where she excelled on the basketball court. As a freshman, she led the Buckeyes to the NCAA championship game and was named Sports Illustrated and Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and Kodak All-American first team. She finished her Ohio State career as the leading scorer in Big Ten women’s basketball history and was the first woman to have her basketball jersey number retired at Ohio State.
In her first season of professional basketball Smith led the Columbus Quest to the American Basketball League (ABL) title. Smith repeated as ABL champion with the Quest in 1998, the league’s last season. Smith joined the Minnesota Lynx of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) for the 1999 season. The six-time WNBA All-Star lead the league in scoring in 2001 and became the first American Professional Woman to score 4,000 points. She was traded to the Detroit Shock in 2005 and earned two WNBA titles with the team in 2006 and 2008, earning Finals MVP honors in 2008. She is a two-time All-WNBA first team member (2001, 2003), two-time All-WNBA second team member (2000, 2002) and was named to the WNBA All-Decade team in 2006. In 2010, Smith signed a free agent contract with the Washington Mystics.
Smith has also achieved basketball success in international competition. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist for USA (2000, 2004 and 2008) and two-time World Champion (1998 and 2002). She was named USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year in 2008.
Throughout her career Smith has been an active member of the community as she served as spokesperson for the United Way Race Relations Department in Ohio, was an Olympic torchbearer in Columbus, Ohio, for the 2002 Salt Lake Games, and was honored by the Columbus Touchdown Club as the Ohio State Female Athlete of the Century.

Kalana Greene

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2016  –  Georgia

Kalana Greene is a former WNBA player for the Washington Mystics, New York Liberty, Connecticut Sun, San Antonio Stars, and Minnesota Lynx. She also played for the CCC Polkowice in Poland where she was a silver medalist of the PLKK during the 2010/2011 season.

Growing up, Greene averaged 17 points per game as a high school freshman and by the time she was a senior, she averaged 28 points per game, 18 rebounds, 9 steals, and 8 assists per game which earned her the WBCA All-American. She joined the University of Connecticut Huskies’ team where she won two national championships at the University of Connecticut, the All-BIG EAST First Team, and Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Greene was the 13th overall pick for New York Liberty in the 2010 WNBA Draft.

Jennifer Lacy

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2013  –  Nicaragua
  • 2016  –  Angola

Jenn Lacy is a former American professional basketball player of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

A native of Agoura Hills, California, Lacy played collegiate basketball at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, averaging 9.1 points per game in 103 games over four years. Lacy went undrafted in the 2006 WNBA Draft and joined the Phoenix Mercury for the 2006 and 2007 seasons, winning the 2007 WNBA Championship. She went on to play for the Atlanta Dream (2008-09), Tulsa Shock (2010-14), Los Angeles Sparks (2015) and Connecticut Sun (2015). Lacy played professionally in China during the 2008-09 WNBA offseason with Beijing Shougang.

Jennifer Azzi

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Tanzania

Jennifer Azzi is a former collegiate and professional basketball player, a former basketball coach, and an Olympic and FIBA World Champion. Azzi was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

With achievements ranging from seven hall of fame inductions, an Olympic Gold Medal, Stanford National Championship, Two World Championships, the Naismith Award, Wade Trophy, a successful WNBA career, and coaching the University of San Francisco Women’s Basketball team to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 20 years, Jennifer Azzi’s achievements have firmly established her as one of the most accomplished figures in sports.

Off the court, Jennifer is a well-regarded speaker, author and community supporter, and serves as an ambassador for the sport both locally and internationally. Locally, through her very successful Azzi Camps, she teaches lessons both on and off the court. Through her role as an NBA Academies Global Director and Jr. NBA Ambassador, Azzi has traveled thousands of miles representing the NBA to countries such as Africa, Denmark, Australia, Mexico, Canada, India and China. In addition, Azzi conducted the first-ever NBA clinic held at the White House, with President Obama. Most recently, her community involvement has been seen through the NBA Cares program, partnering with the Golden State Warriors and other notable Bay Area figures to positively serve area youth.

Hamchétou Maïga-Ba

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Mali

Hamchetou Maiga-Ba was the 2001 CAA Player of the Year. She was a three-time All-CAA selection and three-time All-Tournament pick. Maiga-Ba completed her career at ODU with 1,483 points. She led the Lady Monarchs in rebounding, both in 2001 at 7.4 and 2002 at 8.1, and hauled down a career high 20 rebounds against SMU in March of 2000.

She also helped lead the Lady Monarchs to the 2002 NCAA Elite eight and the CAA championship, and was selected to the CAA’s All-Defensive squad. Maiga-Ba was selected in the second round of the WNBA draft in 2002 by Sacramento where she teamed with another Lady Monarch great Ticha Penicheiro to help the Monarchs win the 2005 WNBA title.

A native of Mali, she helped lead her country to the 2008 Olympic games. She currently lives in Sacramento, CA., with her husband Baba Ba and son Mamadou, who was born in May. Maiga Ba graduated with a degree in information systems. She was named to the CAA’s Silver anniversary team in women’s basketball.