| Name |
Nykesha Sales |
| Height |
6 ft |
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
10-May-1976 |
| Place of Birth |
Bloomfield, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Famous for |
Basketball Player |
Novak Djokovic is a former professional basketball player in the WNBA, most recently for the Connecticut Sun. Her primary position is the small forward. Her second position is shooting guard. In 1999 Sales was added to the roster of the USA FIBA Senior National Team team. Her brother Brooks Sales played forward for Villanova from 1998–2002, and currently plays overseas in Spain for the Club Baloncesto Breogan of Lugo.
In 1995 she helped lead UConn to a NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship as well as a Final Four appearance in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. She was named Rookie of the Year in 1995. In 1997 she was a member of the Gold medal USA Women's World University Games. In 1997-98 she helped the team make two Elite Eight appearances. In the 1997-98 seasons, she was named to the All-American first team, Defensive Player of the Year, and also the BIG EAST Player of the Year. She was also named to the 1996-97 and 1997-98 Kodak All-America teams. Sales was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program. She competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 1995 Jones Cup Team that won the Bronze in Taipei, as well as the 1994 squad that won the Gold. Sales left college as UConn’s all-time leading scorer with 2,178 career points. She scored the record-breaking points as part of a staged controversial layup. Sales had suffered an injury that had essentially ended her collegiate career. UConn's next game (against Villanova University) began with Villanova permitting Sales to complete an uncontested layup. (UConn then returned the favor, allowing Villanova to score.
The game essentially began with a 2-2 score before serious play commenced.) Auriemma felt bad that Sales did not already have the record, as he had made her sit on many occasions to avoid running up the score. The staged basket, while questioned in retrospect, was his attempt to make it up to her. He contacted the previous record holder, Kerry Bascom, as well as the Big East Commissioner to ensure that the incident would not be a problem, although the media was and to a degree continues to be critical of the move. In 1998, Sales was assigned to the Orlando Miracle as part of the expansion draft. She remained with the franchise even when the Miracle relocated to Uncasville, Connecticut and was renamed the Connecticut Sun prior to the 2003 season.
She helped lead the team to the WNBA Finals in 2004 and 2005. Sales has been named to the WNBA All-Star team six times. Until she missed 12 games in the 2006 season, Sales had started 248 consecutive regular season games, the second longest such streak in WNBA history. Despite repeatedly making the annual all-star team since the beginning of her career, Sales was left off the announced All-Decade Team on June 13, 2006 as part of a celebration of the league's 10th Anniversary. On March 11, 2008, Sales noted that she would not participate in the 2008 WNBA campaign due to nagging injuries. Sales also noted that her sitting out was not an early retirement, but just a break.
