Lindsay Taylor

Lindsay Corine Taylor (born May 20, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player.

She played in the WNBA, KBSL, LFB, WKBL, Polish Women's League, WCBA, and Angola Women's Basketball League.

A very experienced player, she also played professionally overseas in 13 basketball seasons.

Standing 6 ft tall she usually played the center position (normally the tallest player on the team).

Lindsay Corine Taylor was born on May 20, 1981, in Poway, California, the daughter of Catherine and Bill Taylor.

Her family later moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

She played for the AAU Arizona Elite, where she guided the team to the 17-Gold National Championship in 1998 at the age of 17.

Taylor attended Chandler High School and was a Chandler HS state champion in 1999.

She attended University of California, Santa Barbara in 1999 and was the 2001 Big West Freshman and Player of the Year.

Taylor is Santa Barbara's all-time leading point scorer, blocker and most accurate shooter.

She became a Chandler HS state champion in 1999.

Taylor later became famous during her NCAA career at UC Santa Barbara, playing center for the women's basketball team.

She was (and still is) the tallest women's basketball player in the school's history, and she attended the same classes as fellow WNBA players Kayte Christensen and Kristen Mann.

After initially redshirting her first year(1999–2000) Taylor played center for the women's basketball team UC Santa Barbara Gaucho.

In 2000–2001, Taylor capped an impressive rookie season by earning the 2001 Big West Freshman of the Year award, second team all-conference and All-Big West tournament honors.

She was instrumental in securing the Gauchos four straight Big West Conference women's Championships victories from 2001–2004, and almost single-handedly took the team to the 2004 Sweet Sixteen – the furthest the team had ever advanced in the NCAA tournament.

Taylor was awarded the Silver Medal as a member of the United States 2003 Pan American Games basketball team and was considered the best player in the team.

Graduating from Santa Barbara in 2004, she was one of the highly regarded rookies for the 2004 WNBA draft and was chosen by the Houston Comets and later traded to the Phoenix Mercury.

She was the second-round (26th pick overall) in the 2004 WNBA Draft.

In total Taylor signed with four WNBA teams: the Houston Comets, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm (twice) and the Washington Mystics.

In addition to her WNBA career, Taylor enjoyed great success playing overseas in Europe and Asia, especially in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA).

and the Polish Women's League.

Taylor finished her first season in the Polish Women's League with the highest number of points scored, and her overall evaluation was the highest in the league.

She was also awarded Center of the Year and earned a place on the 1st Team, All-Imports Team and the All-Defensive Team.

Her grandmother, Helen Taylor (died September 2006), regularly wrote articles on the internet about Lindsay during her time playing for the UCSB Gauchos.

Taylor was not involved in sports until she was fifteen.

She had originally planned on playing in her school's marching band, but her closest friends, who played basketball, convinced her to start playing the game.

She said she "picked it up naturally".

She said that if it were not for basketball, her desires might have led her to a different career.

Taylor attended Chandler High School in Chandler, Arizona.

In her first high school basketball game, she accidentally scored for the opposite team.

She helped lead her team to two regional championships, and as a senior, she helped lead them to the Arizona State Championship.

She averaged 19.2 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.1 blocks in her final year as a prepster.

During a game in her junior year, she scored a career-best 31 points and grabbed 21 rebounds.

She also received the All-Chinese WCBA 1st Team award in 2011.

In April 2014, she was elected to UC Santa Barbara Hall of Fame.

After retiring from professional basketball in 2015 Taylor serves as an assistant basketball coach at Hamilton High School.

She is currently in her sixth season with Hamilton.

Taylor came from a family of above-average height and claims she inherited her great height from her father who is 6 ft. Her uncle, Ron (died November 2019), stood 7 ft and was nicknamed "Tiny".

She has an older sister, Roz, and a younger brother who unlike Lindsay, are just a little above average height.