Ruthie Bolton

Alice Ruth Bolton (born May 25, 1967), known as Ruthie Bolton, is an American former professional women's basketball player.

Born in Lucedale, Mississippi, she played at the collegiate, Olympic and professional levels of women's basketball.

While the USA team had won gold in 1983, they finished with the silver in 1985, in fifth place in 1987, and did not field a team in 1989.

The team was coached by Tara VanDerveer of Stanford.

After winning opening games easily, the USA faced China in the medal round.

The USA shot only 36% from the field, but limited the team from China to 35%, and won 79–76 to advance to the gold medal game.

There they faced 7–0 Spain, but won 88–62 to claim the gold medal.

Bolton was the team's leading scorer with 14 points per game, just ahead of Lisa Leslie's 13 points per game.

Bolton started her professional career for the Visby Ladies in Sweden during the 1990–91 season.

The following season, she played in Hungary, becoming the first USA woman to play professionally in the country.

Bolton was named to the team representing the US at the World University Games held during July 1991 in Sheffield, England.

She spent the 1992–93 season with C.A. Fainzia in Italy, averaging 26 points per game.

During the 1993–94 season, she averaged 28 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.

She stayed with Faenza the following season where she averaged 25.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.

In 1994, Bolton moved to Italy to play for Erreti Faenza.

In 1994, Bolton-Holifield was named to the national team which competed in the World Championships in Sydney, Australia.

During the 1995–96 season, Bolton played in Turkey.

Bolton played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 through 2004 with the Sacramento Monarchs.

She played collegiately at Auburn University, teaming with her older sister, Mae Ola Bolton.

On January 22, 1997, Bolton was selected with the 13th pick of the initial player allocation for the 1997 WNBA draft by the Sacramento Monarchs.

Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 73 - 61 win over the Utah Starzz where she recorded 16 points, 11 rebounds and 6 steals.

Thanks to this stat line, Bolton recorded the 2nd ever double-double in WNBA history.

The first one happening earlier that day on June 21 in a Los Angeles Sparks and New York Liberty matchup where Lisa Leslie recorded 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Bolton would play 8 years in the WNBA from 1997 to 2004, all 8 seasons with the Monarchs and she was one of the franchise's marquee players.

For the 1998 season, she only played 5 games due to dealing with a near career-ending knee injury, but she bounced back and made the All-Star team in the 1999 season.

She made the All-Star team again in 2001 season.

Throughout her 8 seasons with the team, Bolton and the Monarchs made the playoffs 5 times.

Although they didn't reach the Finals during this period, the team reached the Western Conference Finals in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

Bolton's final game was played in Game 3 of the 2004 Western Conference Finals on October 5, 2004 against the Seattle Storm.

The Monarchs would lose the game 62 - 82 and be eliminated from the playoffs with Bolton recording 4 points and 1 steal in her final game.

After the crushing playoff elimination in 2004, Bolton would reluctantly retire from the WNBA.

Bolton has gone on record saying that she was not ready to retire at the end of the 2004 season and she felt that she was pressured to retire by the Monarchs' organization, so that they can develop their younger talent such as Rebekkah Brunson and Nicole Powell.

To make matters worse, the first year that Bolton wasn't on the team, the Monarchs finally overcame the hurdle and won their first WNBA Championship in 2005 by defeating the Connecticut Sun 3 - 1 in a best-of-five series.

Bolton cites this time as one of the darkest and most hurtful periods of her lifetime.

She signed a training camp contract with the Monarchs on April 23, 2005 but did not make the final team and was waived on May 9, being told by Monarchs' staff that although they appreciated her efforts and loyalty to the franchise, she simply did not have it anymore and that retiring would be the better option.

Bolton's father also died in 2005.

Due to losing her father, being coerced into retiring and having to watch the Monarchs win their first championship immediately after she left the team, Bolton says that she felt abandoned by the franchise and that every aspect of her life came to a screeching halt.

She told Sky Sports "It felt like rejection. My father had passed away at the time and he was my rock and I couldn't talk to him. He was my anchor. Dealing with that at the time, and retiring from something I’d done for 25 years, it all came to a screeching halt. I had to really dig deep and pray, I had to face my adversaries. I felt like the organization had done me wrong. That situation was so easy for me to become unhealthy mentally, as I was still working for the organization and had to show up to work every day.”

She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Bolton has also served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves as a transportation officer.