Michelle Edwards (born March 6, 1966) is an American retired professional women's basketball player.

She was a member of the United States women's national basketball team, that claimed the bronze medal at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba.

Her career earned her a spot in the high school Hall of Fame[5] While in high school she was noticed by Alfreda Harris, a Boston educator[6] who had founded the Shelburne Center in Roxbury Massachusetts, place where Edwards played.

Harris would later go on to become the first female head coach at the university of Massachusetts, Boston campus, and later would be inducted into their Hall of Fame.

[8] A women interviewing for an assistant coaching position told Stringer about a player she had seen in the Boston area.

On a recruiting visit, Edwards was embarrassed to admit she didn't know where Iowa was, so Stringer pulled out a map to show her.

Fans sat in the aisles, and the fire marshal sent a letter of reprimand to Christine Grant, who was then the director of women's athletics at Iowa.

At Stringer's press conference, when she was announced as the new coach, she promised she would sell out the arena, which prompted audible snickers among the reporters.

"[4][13][14][15][16] In Edward's senior year, Iowa agreed to play in the Burger King/Orange Bowl Classic, held in Miami, Florida on 28–30 December 1987.

She spent the whole night working on a pre-game speech, which would include references to a woman who swam the English Channel with no arms, and Glenn Cunningham (athlete), who set records for the mile run after he had been told that a childhood burn incident would not let him walk again.

[18] Edwards was the leading scorer for her team in her sophomore, junior and senior years, scoring a total of 1821 points.

The USA team lost a three-point game to Brazil, then responded with wins over Argentina and Cuba, earning a spot in the medal round.

[21] Although she appreciated it at the time, the honor did not sink in until years later, when she reflected on all the players that have played at Iowa, and she realized she is the only one to have her jersey retired.

However, she ended up play for nine seasons, earning All-Star Game MVP of the Italian League on three occasions.

[1][22] Being selected by the Cleveland Rockers in the initial player allocation of the 1997 WNBA draft, Edwards debut game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 56 - 76 loss to the Houston Comets where she recorded 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

Speaking on the trade, then Head Coach of the Rockers, Dan Hughes stated "Michelle Edwards has meant a lot to this franchise both on the court and off.

Edwards finished the 2000 season with the Storm, playing in 20 games while averaging 6.6 points, 2.0 assists and 1.7 rebounds.

Edwards would only play 3 games in the 2001 season due to having a chronic left foot injury and would announce her retirement the next year on April 17, 2002.