national championship game was against Oklahoma, the semi-final was against long-time rival Tennessee. SI's Richard Deitsch called Jones "the best player on the floor against Tennessee". Sports Illustrated did a series of thirteen photographs featuring players and team member of teams chasing or achieving perfect seasons—an entire season without a loss. The photograph of the 2002 team including Asjha Jones is one of the photos in the collection. Professional career International In the 2005–06 off-season she played in Novosibirsk for the Russian Basketball Federation Superleague. After playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia during several years, she joined Rivas Ecópolis in the 2011–12 off-season, where she played the Final game of the EuroLeague Women 2011–12. WNBA Jones was selected in the first round (4th overall pick) by the Washington Mystics in the 2002 WNBA Draft. The third pick by the Mystics was Stacey Dales, who said about Jones, ""Ashja Jones is one of the toughest players I've ever come up against," Dales-Schuman said. "Her physical nature, her stature, her mentality of the game, she's an exceptional player, and I see her as being a tremendous professional athlete." After spending two seasons with the Mystics, Jones was traded to the Connecticut Sun in a three-team deal that sent Tamicha Jackson from the Phoenix Mercury to the Washington Mystics and the Sun sent the 8th pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft to the Mercury. In 2009, Jones was the leading scorer for the Sun team, with 16.7 points per game. Unfortunately, she strained her left Achilles tendon, and had to miss the final eleven games of the season. She underwent surgery in the following February. She didn't fully recover during the 2010 season, but still managed to average double-digit scoring. Jones decided to take a break, and decided not to play in the European league during the winter. The break helped her heal for the 2011 season, where she is the third leading scorer at just over 13 points per game. Her coach, Mike Thibault, says "I want a championship for Asjha as much as I want it for anybody...She's one of my favorite players I've ever coached, because of the way she approaches her job every single day." On May 13, 2015, the Connecticut Sun traded Jones to the Minnesota Lynx in exchange for a second round pick in the 2016 WNBA draft. When the Lynx won the 2015 WNBA title, Jones