Up2Us Sports Ambassador Sugar Rodgers will be heading to the WNBA All-Star Game next weekend. She was named a replacement player and will make her All-Star debut in her fifth season. She will also compete against Seattle’s Sue Bird, Minnesota’s Maya Moore, Connecticut’s Jasmine Thomas and Chicago’s Allie Quigley in the 3-point contest during halftime of the game on July 22nd. The game will be aired live on ABC starting at 3:30pm ET. Learn more about Sugar below as we share 14 facts about our sharp-shooting ambassador.
- Her full name is Ta’Shauna Rodgers but goes exclusively by Sugar, nicknamed by her uncle when she was in preschool.
- As a kid, Sugar was one of Virginia’s best junior golfers. She was on a Tiger Woods-sponsored youth team and even appeared in a Coke commercial at the age of 10 for his charitable foundation!
- She finished her stellar collegiate career at Georgetown University as the school’s all-time leader - male or female - in scoring (2,518) and three-pointers made (346). She beat the men’s scoring leader by 214 points (Eric Floyd - 2,304) and the men’s three-point record by 96 points (D. Smith-Rivera - 250).
- She is the women’s all-time leader in steals (326), just 23 shy of the all-time leader (Kevin Braswell - 349).
- To this day, Sugar still holds the King’s Fork High School girl’s basketball team records in career points, rebounds, assists and blocks.
- In her first WNBA season, she won the Championship as a member of the Minnesota Lynx.
- Sugar was named an Up2Us Sports Ambassador back in July 2016. She is passionate about working with youth and inspiring them to keep working hard and overcoming the odds to be successful.
- In the summer of 2016 leading up to the Rio Olympics, Sugar was named to the 11-member USA Basketball Women’s Select Team. The team trained alongside the USA Women’s National Team before they left to play in the Olympics.
- At our 2017 gala this past May, Sugar brought her mentee, Damien, along as her date. She mentors him in her spare time and was honored to have him attend with her as they both experienced their first red carpet event.
- During the 2016 WNBA season, she set a new NY Liberty single-season record for made 3-pointers in a single-season with 86.
- She currently ranks 2nd in the WNBA with 39 made 3-pointers this season after finishing last season trailing only all-time leader Diana Taurasi in the league rankings.
- Sugar makes her All-Star debut as a replacement player for the injured Elena Delle Donne.
- This isn't her first 3-point contest appearance, as she was runner-up in the 2009 McDonald's All-American Game 3-point shootout, being beat by fellow 2017 All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith.
- Sugar wears jersey #14 - both at Georgetown University and now for the NY Liberty - as a homage to her mother who passed away of lupus on July 14, 2005. She went on to be selected 14th overall in the 2013 WNBA Draft AND in 2016 she ended the WNBA season ranked 14th in scoring. Isn’t that all serendipitous.
