| Jessica Shepard | |
| Position: | Forward |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 4 |
| Weight Lbs: | 186 |
| League: | Greek Women's Basketball League |
| Team: | Athinaikos |
| Number: | 32 |
| Birth Date: | 11 September 1996 |
| Birth Place: | Fremont, Nebraska, U.S. |
| High School: |
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| College: |
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| Draft League: | WNBA |
| Draft Year: | 2019 |
| Draft Round: | 2 |
| Draft Pick: | 16 |
| Draft Team: | Minnesota Lynx |
| Career Start: | 2019 |
| Years1: | – |
| Team1: | Minnesota Lynx |
| Years2: | 2021–2022 |
| Team2: | Dinamo Sassari |
| Years3: | 2022–2024 |
| Team3: | Reyer Venezia |
| Years4: | 2024–present |
| Team4: | Athinaikos |
| Highlights: |
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| Show-Medals: | no |
Jessica Shepard (born September 11, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Athinaikos of the Greek Women's Basketball League. Shepard began her college career at Nebraska, playing there for two seasons before transferring to Notre Dame to complete her career. She was drafted 16th overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2019 WNBA draft.
A Fremont, Nebraska native, Shepard is the daughter of Mark and Kim Shepard.[1] She has four sisters and one older brother. Shepard won a state title while attending Lincoln Southeast High School in 2013, and finished her high school career at Fremont.[2]
Shepard was selected 16th overall in the 2nd round of the 2019 WNBA Draft. Shepard appeared in 5 games of the 2019 season, and averaged 4.6 ppg. On June 8, 2019, in a game against the Los Angeles Sparks, it was determined Shepard had torn her ACL, effectively ending her rookie season.[3]
Shepard missed the 2020 season as she continued to recovery from her ACL injury that she sustained in 2019.[4]
Shepard was suspended for and subsequently missed the entire 2024 season. This was due to contract commitments with her basketball club in Italy, Umana Reyer Venezia and violating the WNBA collective bargaining agreement which requires players to prioritize the WNBA over other international leagues.[5]
On June 19, 2024, the Basketball Federation of Slovenia announced that Shepard had received Slovenian citizenship and became eligible to play for the Slovenia women's national basketball team.[6]
|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2019| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota| 6 || 0 || 18.7 || .379 || .143 || .750 || 5.7 || 3.5 || 0.3 || 0.2 || 2.5 || 4.8|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2021| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota| 22 || 0 || 10.5 || .364 || .083 || .750 || 3.2 || 1.7 || 0.1 || 0.2 || 0.8 || 2.0|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2022| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota| 36 || 22 || 26.1 || .500 || .250 || .734 || 7.4 || 3.0 || 0.4 || 0.3 || 1.7 || 8.1|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2023| style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota| 21 || 17 || 26.9 || .516 || .000 || .774 || 7.0 || 3.1 || 0.6 || 0.1 || 1.4 || 8.1|- | style="text-align:left;"| Career| style="text-align:left;"| 4 years, 1 team| 85 || 39 || 21.8 || .482 || .178 || .749 || 6.1 || 2.7 || 0.4 || 0.2 || 1.5 || 6.3
Source[7]
| Year | Team | GP | Points | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Nebraska | 31 | 574 | 51.0% | 0.0% | 58.1% | 8.6 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 18.5 | |
| 2016–17 | Nebraska | 29 | 538 | 40.8% | 31.5% | 55.7% | 9.8 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 18.6 | |
| 2017–18 | Notre Dame | 38 | 594 | 56.5% | 0.0% | 67.9% | 8.1 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 15.6 | |
| 2018–19 | Notre Dame | 38 | 634 | 59.4% | 0.0% | 71.0% | 10.3 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 16.7 | |
| Career | 136 | 2340 | 51.6% | 29.5% | 62.4% | 9.2 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 17.2 |