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Betnijah Laney-Hamilton

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Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (born October 29, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for Rutgers University.[1]

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton
Laney-Hamilton with the New York Liberty in 2023
No. 44 – New York Liberty
PositionShooting guard / small forward
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1993-10-29) October 29, 1993 (age 31)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight166 lb (75 kg)
Career information
High schoolSmyrna (Smyrna, Delaware)
CollegeRutgers (2011–2015)
WNBA draft2015: 2nd round, 17th overall pick
Selected by the Chicago Sky
Playing career2015–present
Career history
2015–2016Chicago Sky
2015–2016Perth Lynx
2017–2018Bendigo Spirit
2018Connecticut Sun
2019Indiana Fever
2019–2020Elitzur Holon
2020Atlanta Dream
2020–2022Elitzur Ramla
2021–presentNew York Liberty
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing  United States
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2022 Australia

Early life and college

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Laney-Hamilton started playing basketball at 10 years old, largely due to her mother having played basketball competitively.[2] Laney-Hamilton is the daughter of Yolanda Laney,[3] who played for Cheyney State and was also coached by C. Vivian Stringer. Her closest friends are Aiyannah Peal and Sydni Epps.

Laney-Hamilton attended Smyrna High School in Smyrna, Delaware where she averaged 23.7 points, 10 rebounds, 4.4 steals, 4.3 assists and 1.2 blocks per game as a senior and was named a McDonald's All-American.[4]

In her four-year career at Rutgers, Laney-Hamilton played 129 games with 107 starts, and averaged 10.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game.[4]

Professional career

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Laney-Hamilton with the New York Liberty in 2024

WNBA

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Chicago Sky (2015–2016)

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On April 16, 2015, Laney-Hamilton was selected by the Chicago Sky with the 17th overall pick in the 2015 WNBA draft.[5] In her rookie season playing for the Sky, Laney-Hamilton averaged 2.8 points and 2.1 rebounds in 33 games (32 regular season and one playoff).[6]

Laney-Hamilton returned to the Chicago Sky for the 2016 WNBA season. On June 8, she was ruled out for the rest of the season after tearing her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The injury occurred during the second quarter of the Sky's June 3 game against the Washington Mystics.[7]

Connecticut Sun (2018)

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On February 7, 2018, Laney-Hamilton signed a training camp deal with the Connecticut Sun.[8]

Indiana Fever (2019)

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On February 5, 2019, Laney-Hamilton signed with the Indiana Fever.[9] In Indiana, she reunited with her former college teammate from Rutgers Erica Wheeler.[10] On February 14, 2020, she re-signed with the team on a multi-year contract,[11] however, she was released by the Fever on June 17.[12]

Atlanta Dream (2020)

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Laney-Hamilton had a breakout season in 2020 with the Atlanta Dream; she was named to the WNBA All-Defensive Team[13] and won the Most Improved Player Award.[14]

New York Liberty (2021–present)

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In 2021 she signed with the New York Liberty.[15] 2021 was a rebuilding year for the New York Liberty. in 2022, the Liberty were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. In 2023, the New York Liberty placed second to the Las Vegas Aces. In 2024, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was sidelined with injuries but proved pivotal to the New York Liberty's starting linup, with a particularly stellar WNBA Finals Game 2 on the way to the New York Liberty's 2024 WNBA championship.[16]

WNBL

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On July 16, 2015, Laney-Hamilton signed with the Perth Lynx for the 2015–16 WNBL season.[17] On November 11, 2015, she was named in the WNBL's Team of the Week for Round 5 after recording 12 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists against the Adelaide Lightning on November 8.[18] On January 13, 2016, she earned Team of the Week honors for a second time.[19] On February 16, she was named WNBL Player of the Month for January.[20] She led the Lynx to a second place regular season finish with a 16–8 win–loss record, and went on to score a game-high 23 points in the team's semi-final win over the first-seeded Townsville Fire.[21] With the win, the Lynx advanced to the WNBL grand final for the first time since 1999.[22] There they were outclassed by the defending champion Townsville (who made it to the grand final via the preliminary final), losing the best-of-three series 2–0. Laney-Hamilton appeared in all 27 games for the Lynx in 2015–16, averaging 15.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.0 steals per game.

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader
† Denotes seasons in which Laney-Hamilton won a WNBA championship

WNBA

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Regular season

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Stats current through end of 2024 season

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton WNBA Regular Season Statistics[23]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2015 Chicago 32 2 12.8 .394 .000 .696 2.1 0.6 0.5 0.2 0.6 2.9
2016 Chicago 8 1 5.3 .167 .000 1.000 0.6 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.3 1.0
2017 Did not play (injury)
2018 Connecticut 29 0 9.3 .471 .111 .909 1.7 0.7 0.4 0.0 0.6 2.7
2019 Indiana 34 27 25.8 .362 .303 .581 4.2 1.7 1.4 0.1 1.4 5.6
2020 Atlanta 22 22 33.5 .481 .405 .827 4.9 4.0 1.6 0.1 3.0 17.2
2021 New York 32 32 33.4 .451 .312 .787 4.1 5.2 0.7 0.1 3.7 16.8
2022 New York 9 6 28.3 .422 .379 .875 3.3 2.8 0.4 0.1 2.7 11.2
2023 New York 40 40 30.0 .499 .392 .791 3.3 2.4 0.9 0.1 1.9 12.8
2024† New York 28 25 30.3 .456 .402 .906 4.2 3.3 1.1 0.0 2.4 11.8
Career 9 years, 5 teams 234 155 24.4 .451 .359 .799 3.3 2.4 0.9 0.1 1.9 9.5
All-Star 1 0 16.8 .286 .000 – 1.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 4.0

Playoffs

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Betnijah Laney-Hamilton WNBA Playoff Statistics
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2015 Chicago 1 0 2.0 — — — 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0
2021 New York 1 1 37.0 .455 .429 .667 4.0 3.0 1.0 0.0 2.0 25.0°
2022 New York 3 3 24.3 .419 .250 .875 4.0 3.3 0.7 0.3 2.3 11.3
2023 New York 10 10 36.1 .473 .365 .733 4.1 3.0 0.8 0.0 2.0 15.2
2024† New York 11 11 27.3 .369 .294 1.000 2.9 2.5 1.1 0.2 1.5 7.0
Career 5 years, 2 teams 26 25 29.7 .432 .340 .806 3.4 2.7 0.9 0.1 1.8 11.1

College

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Betnijah Laney-Hamilton NCAA statistics[24]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2011–12 Rutgers 32 11 20.9 .378 .278 .656 3.9 0.9 0.6 0.1 1.6 6.0
2012–13 Rutgers 30 29 31.1 .364 .190 .667 5.0 1.9 1.3 0.2 3.2 9.7
2013–14 Rutgers 35 35 33.8 .435 .300 .747 8.5 2.9 1.3 0.3 2.7 11.8
2014–15 Rutgers 32 32 36.2 .486 .395 .704 10.7 2.9 1.8 0.2 2.9 15.8
Career 129 107 30.6 .426 .289 .699 7.1 2.2 1.2 0.2 2.6 10.9

Personal life

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Laney is married to Jordan Hamilton, who was drafted in the NBA in 2011, but as of 2024 plays in the Japanese B.League.

References

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  1. ^ Phillips, Carron J. (May 21, 2015). "Betnijah Laney returns to Delaware with Chicago Sky". DelawareOnline.com. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  2. ^ "Perth Lynx – Betnijah Laney Bio". YouTube.com. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  3. ^ Frederick, Dave (February 8, 2010). "Betnijah and Yolanda Laney: A basketball family". capegazette.com. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Betnijah Laney Bio". ScarletKnights.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  5. ^ Phillips, Carron J. (April 17, 2015). "Former Smyrna star Betnijah Laney selected 17th in WNBA Draft". DelawareOnline.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  6. ^ "Betnijah Laney-Hamilton WNBA Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  7. ^ "Laney Out With Torn ACL". WNBA.com. June 8, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  8. ^ "Romero signs with Connecticut". wnba.com. February 7, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  9. ^ "Fever Sign Betnijah Laney to Free Agent Contract". fever.wnba.com. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  10. ^ Byrne, Matthew (May 16, 2024). "Erica Wheeler has 'family' reunion with former teammate ahead of Fever-Liberty clash". ClutchPoints | Indiana Fever News. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  11. ^ "Fever Re-Sign Betnijah Laney". fever.wnba.com. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  12. ^ "Fever release Betnijah Laney & Stephanie Mavunga Rejoins Active Roster". fever.wnba.com. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  13. ^ "Williams and Laney Land All-Defensive First Team Honors". WNBA.com. September 29, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  14. ^ "The Dream's Betnijah Laney Chosen WNBA's Most Improved Player". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. September 24, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  15. ^ Valenzuela, Sarah (February 3, 2021). "Betnijah Laney, who once dreamed of playing in WNBA after watching Liberty play, now signed to very team who helped inspire her". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  16. ^ Powell, Jackie (October 14, 2024). "Betnijah Laney-Hamilton delivers herculean performance". The Next. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
  17. ^ "PERTH LYNX SIGN WNBA PLAYER BETNIJAH LANEY". PerthLynx.com. July 16, 2015. Archived from the original on July 19, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  18. ^ "BETNIJAH LANEY NAMED IN WNBL TEAM OF THE WEEK". PerthLynx.com. November 11, 2015. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  19. ^ "WHITCOMB, LANEY NAMED IN WNBL TEAM OF THE WEEK". PerthLynx.com. January 13, 2016. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  20. ^ "BETNIJAH LANEY NAMED WNBL PLAYER OF THE MONTH". PerthLynx.com. February 16, 2016. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  21. ^ "Fire vs Lynx". WNBL.com.au. February 28, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  22. ^ "LYNX SMASH FIRE, QUALIFY FOR GRAND FINAL". PerthLynx.com. February 28, 2016. Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  23. ^ "Betnijah Laney-Hamilton WNBA Stats". Basketball Reference.
  24. ^ "Betnijah Laney-Hamilton College Stats". Sports Reference.
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