Tag: Monique Billings

Monique Billing’s reaction to a Brittney Griner and Rickea Jackson fight reminded fans of an LSU-South Carolina meme

Monique Billings said NOPE.

After Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and Los Angeles Sparks rookie sensation Rickea Jackson got into an on-court scuffle Tuesday, Mercury forward Monique Billings immediately tried to avoid the dust-up. Her hysterical reaction has WNBA fans cracking up.

Griner and Jackson nearly came to blows mid-game after Jackson took exception to contact that Griner created with an elbow after a free throw by Celeste Taylor. After the two exchanged words about the physicality, tempers flared, and they had to be separated very quickly.

Players and coaches from both teams had to step in to stop any further escalation. Billings, who initially attempted to help, decided it was probably best she didn’t. (See the still shot below and the five-second mark of the clip, where you’ll see Billings — No. 25 — run in from the right side of the video and then step away.)

Billings’ instant reaction to the melee had fans thinking of a similar response from a ref who chose the same during an LSU-South Carolina scuffle earlier this year. They also wholeheartedly related to not wanting to be in the middle of it.

Here’s what they said (Warning: NSFW language):

(Feature image courtesy of CBS)

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Monique Billings playing well for Dallas Wings

Billings is playing well!

Monique Billings has started to come onto her own with the Dallas Wings in 2024. The 28-year-old from that split her college team between USC and the UCLA Bruins is scoring a career-high 13.7 points per game this season.

After being selected in the second round of the 2018 WNBA Draft, she took several trips overseas to play, including stops in South Korea, Israel, Russia and Australia. Now the two-time All-Pac-12 star seems to have found a comfortable home in Dallas.

Billings recorded back-to-back 18-point games, and twice in her last five games, she has recorded a double-double. Unfortunately, the Wings have not found traction in the win column and lost three in a row.

In the latest piece by Ira Gorawara of the Daily Bruins, Billings has been “finding balance”, which has translated to better play on the court:

“I want to do all the things. I have this platform, this opportunity for such a small amount of time – I want to max out while I can,” the Dallas Wings forward said. “There’s so much that basketball has taken me to, whether it’s meeting different people, experiencing different parts of the world and just allowing me to be open.”

Billings is third on the team in scoring. Arike Ogunbowale and Natasha Howard are ahead of her with 27.1 and 15 points per game respectively.

Ex-UCLA star Monique Billings has big game for Wings in WNBA

Big game for Monique.

It was another monster game for former UCLA Bruins star Monique Billings. She recorded her third double-double of the season in a loss over Minnesota. The Dallas Wings forward scored 19 points, ripped down 15 rebounds and dished out 3 assists in the game.

On the season, the forward is scoring 14 points per game, and recording nearly 9 rebounds per game. Dallas with the loss fell to 3-4 on the season, which is 5th in the Western Conference.

Billings played four seasons at UCLA and more than 140 games. She scored 1,671 points in her Bruins career. In her junior season, she averaged 16.7 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game.  Billings helped her team to the NCAA Sweet 16 her sophomore season.

Billings was a second-round draft pick by Atlanta in 2018. She was there up until the end of the 2023 season before she signed with the Wings. Billings, a Riverside California native helped the Bruins to the Sweet 16 her sophomore season.

Last season with Atlanta, she started 9 games and played 16.7 minutes per game. This is definitely a breakout season for the former Bruins star.

Monique Billings signs with Dallas Wings

Billings gets signed by Dallas.

Monique Billings, former UCLA Women’s Basketball player was signed Friday morning by the Dallas Wings. The 28-year-old from Riverside California spent her College Basketball days at UCLA from 2014-2018. She was drafted in the second round by Atlanta back in 2018.

After playing with Atlanta for parts of 2018 – 2003, along with a few teams overseas, she is back in the WNBA.  During her time at Westwood, she averaged 12.5 points per game in 141 career games. She finished her Junior season scoring 16.7 points per game. Since in the WNBA, she has played 176 games and started 44 of them. She is scoring 5.9 points per game.

She was signed due in large part to the injury to forward Natasha Howard. Howard will miss up to six weeks with a broken foot. She suffered that injury in the game on Wednesday.

The official X account of the Dallas Wings made the announcement Friday:

It did not go unnoticed, as the UCLA Women’s Basketball X account also took part in the announcement:

Dallas hosts the Sky on Saturday and then will go on the road to take on the Dream, Mercury, and Sparks next week.