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| The Connecticut Sun have added Jacki Gemelos, a 6-0 guard who was injured throughout college and her early pro career, but who has been injury-free for the past five seasons. |
UNCASVILLE—The Connecticut Sun announced the signing Jacki
Gemelos on Thursday. The 6-0 guard had been signed to a training camp contract
with the Sun but was released due to the league roster cut-down date.
“Before the Covid-19 pandemic
hit, Jacki was playing some of the best basketball of her career,” Sun head
coach and general manager Curt Miller said. “She is a veteran guard that adds
versatility and depth to our backcourt.
“In this unique and uncertain
season, you can’t undervalue the impact a positive player with a reputation as
a uniter can have on a team,” continued Miller. “I truly appreciate Jacki’s history of fighting
through adversity and gratitude through these unprecedented times. She is
someone I want in the foxhole with us in Florida.”
Gemelos was touted as “the next
Diana Taurasi” but five ACL surgeries spanning nearly six years—the first
coming near the end of her scholastic career in at St. Mary’s High School in Stockton,
Calif.—slowed that train down considerably. She did go to the University of
Southern California as the No. 1 recruit in the country in 2006. After being
red-shirted as a freshman, Gemelos was slowed prior to the start of her
sophomore year at SC (in September) when she tore the ACL and meniscus in her
right knee—the same knee she had injured in high school. In October of 2007,
she tore her ACL in her left knee. After surgery, and recovery from that operation,
an MRI showed that her body had rejected the graft eight months into her rehab,
requiring a fourth surgery.
She ended up playing 11 games
in the 2009-10 campaign, and finally was well enough to play a full season in
2010-11—her fifth year at SC. Gemelos had one more season of eligibility, but
wouldn’t you know it, she tore up her left knee again in early December, nine
games into the 2011-12 season. After recovering from her fifth surgery, Gemelos
was the very definition of “walking wounded.” Nonetheless, the Minnesota Lynx
took a flyer on the determined warrior but released her just prior to the 2013
season.
And so it was off to Greece for
Gemelos, an American of Greek decent, where she played for Panathinaikos and scored
16.9 points a game for the defending Greek League champs. That effort earned
her a look-see by the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, then coached by her USC mentor,
Michael Cooper, but it didn’t work out for Gemelos. Naturally, she was crushed.
But not defeated.
She worked out feverishly with
Fabrice Gautier, a physical therapist who had previously worked with NBA stars
Tony Parker and Joakim Noah, and conditioning coach Bruce Deziel, who
vigorously pushed Gemelos to strengthen her body. Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, who also
played at USC (with Cheryl Miller) and helped lead the Houston Comets to four
straight WNBA championships in the league’s infancy, worked on Gemelos’s mental
preparedness before becoming the Trojans’ head coach. Cooper-Dyke, who also
happens to be Michael Cooper’s sister, currently coaches a Texas Southern.
Next, it was off to Italy where
Gemelos played for PF Umbertide for the 2014-15 campaign and was offered a
tryout by the Chicago Sky. She was the Sky’s last cut but re-signed with the
team in the middle of the 2015 season. Sun fans might recall when she came off
the bench and banged a three-pointer over the out-stretched arms of former
UConn standout Kelly Farris in the fourth quarter that lifted the Sky over the
Sun in her first game with the Sky.
“You know, I’ve shot a million
threes in my life, and it’s just a great, great feeling to hit my first shot,” Gemelos
told The Chicago Tribune after the game.
On June 15, the WNBA announced
plans to tip off the 2020 Season which included the single site location for a
22-game regular season, an update on player salary and benefits and that the
season will feature “bold commitment to social justice.” For more information
on the Sun and 2020 WNBA season, visit connecticutsun.com.
—with staff reports
#ctsun / @ConnecticutSun /
#wnba / @wnba /@jacki23 @JackiG_23
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