Saniya Chong Parents, Height, Weight, Body Measurements, Bio

Quick Facts

Saniya Chong is an American basketball player who is currently playing for the Dallas Wings of the National Basketball Association, NBA, as a free agent. Chong also played for the University of Connecticut on the collegiate of her career winning three national championships.

In 2012, while playing as a junior point guard she ranked sixth in the nation at 32.1 points per game, averaging a gaudy 9.4 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 4.9 steals per game, and leading her high school team, Ossining to a 21-0 record.

Saniya Chong’s Biography

Saniya Lynn Chong was born on June 27, 1994, in Ossining, New York. Her love for Basketball started when she was as little as six years and growing up in the Bronx, Chong would often play with her older brother Andrew who literally helped motivate her athletically.

Chong attended Ossining High School where she played under coach Dan Ricci who described her as “quiet but explosive,” extremely quick and a remarkable offensive player in the basketball court.

Career

Saniya Chong started playing b-ball as a point guard from high school, Ossining High School at age 16, where she averaged 34.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 9.1 assists per game in her final season at the school. By the time she was about to join UCONN basketball as a sophomore, Chong already carved quite a legacy for herself.

• She was named the Parade All-American Team’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year 2012 to 2013;
• Honored as the National High School Coaches Association’s (NHSCA) national girls’ basketball Player of the Year;
• She earned the Award for 2012-13 Gatorade New York Girls Basketball Player of the Year Accolade.
• Then she was rated as the No. 75 overall recruit by ESPN Hoopgurlz as well as No. 3 recruit in the state of New York.

Besides all the above, Chong scored at least 30 points in 51 of her 96 high school games. This tallies as 2988 points over her four-year career. She also recorded nine points, six rebounds, and four assists at the 2013 WBCA All-American Game in New Orleans. And during her junior campaign in 2011 to 2012, the basketball star averaged 33.3 points and 9.7 rebounds.

Saniya Chong enrolled in the University of Connecticut where she graduated on May 6, 2017, with a major in sociology. During her freshman year, she played in 39 games out of UConn’s 40 games where she earned four starting assignments as well as a spot on the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman Team. By the time she got to senior year, she scored career-high points on 8-13 shooting in the Huskies’ overtime loss at No. 6 Stanford.

Come 2017, Chong scored her first points as a WNBA player with three on 5/20. She was selected by the Dallas Wings in the third round as the 26th pick of that year’s WNBA Draft. To think that in 2015, her basketball career was on the stall and she was skeptical about her decision to choose UConn gives an idea to the power and determination that she has in her. Even though she was a third-round pick and with no guarantee of getting any spot on the roster, Wong persisted. After playing 24 minutes in the first exhibition game, her skills were enough to secure the job in the WNBA.

This comes shortly after her college graduation and speaking about attaining that which has always been her dreams, Chong said her friends and family and coaches, “basically got me through it.” She said it is never easy, but the support and encouragement from all her loved ones gave her the self-confidence she needed to get through.

Dallas assistant coach Bridget Pettis described her as a young lady with natural talent, one who could get to the basket, create her own shot and certainly can hit open shots. Thus, the Dallas Wings will continue to develop her as the Shooting Guard.

Parents

She was born to biracial parents – her father Andrew is a Chinese and mother Leslie is African-American.

In 2006 when Chong was in fifth grade, her brother Andrew reportedly committed suicide at the age of 20. He was 6 years older than Saniya Chong at that time. Her family later moved from New York to live near a relative of her mother, Leslie, in Charlotte, North Carolina to escape the tragic memories of Andrew’s loss. They stayed in the latter state until there return back to Ossining, New York in 2009.
Reminiscing the memories of her brother, Chon said Andrew really inspires her to keep going. She described him as a motivator added that though it was very difficult, she couldn’t live isolated from the world.

The basketball budding star even got a tattoo on her left wrist that merely reads 1985-2006 in memory of Andrew. According to her, he will always be there on the court with her.

Body Measurements 

Height: 5ft 8in (1.73 m)

Weight: 140 lbs (63.5 kg)

Her other body measurements like biceps, waist and hips have not been obtained at this time.

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