Targeted after winning their first title, the Minnesota Lynx knew they wouldn’t be able to coast through the 2012 season. After passing its first true test, Minnesota looks to keep rolling against the winless Seattle Storm on Sunday night in a matchup of the last two WNBA champions.
Truth is, Montgomery has been slow to buy into the plan. The longer a career, the more accustomed players become with the idea that starting is important, particularly from a personal pride perspective. “Like I’ve said, I’m just going to come in and do what I do,” Montgomery said. “I’m not going to change my approach. I’m still going to approach these games with the same focus, and I would never let a decision like that effect my team, because if I come in feeling bad for myself, that’s ultimately hurting the team.”
This year marks a milestone birthday for Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi: the big 3-0 is June 11. Although at certain times, she might feel you could add another 30 to that and more accurately reflect her fatigue. “I’m going into year nine of my WNBA career,” Taurasi said. “And walking into the locker room, I still feel like a rookie a little bit. I still want to do everything right and make sure I’m not taking anything for granted. It’s a grind mentally and physically, though; it’s a long process.”
Last season she finished strong in the playoffs. She played in all eight postseason games and averaged 5.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 12.3 minutes, or a little over one quarter “I am headed in the right direction,” the 6-4 Adair said on media day earlier this month. “[Assistant] coach Jim Petersen is a great coach and he is always putting something new in and challenging us.”
Renee Montgomery scored 23 points, Tina Charles had 18 points and eight rebounds to become the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 800 career rebounds, and the Connecticut Sun beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 83-79 Friday night. Charles began the day four rebounds short of the milestone and got it with 2:02 remaining in the third quarter. She reached the mark in her 71st career game, besting the previous mark set by Yolanda Griffith, who did it in her 72nd game.
Becky Hammon hopes that the Olympics will be a little less stressful for her. Hammon will once again play for the Russian women’s basketball team at the games this summer in London. She created a stir in 2008 when she first played for Russia in the Beijing Olympics. She helped guide that team to a bronze medal.
Shock Head Coach Gary Kloppenburg’s dad was on hand to see his son’s first game as a head coach at the BOK center in Tulsa on Saturday May 19. Sitting courtside, Bob Kloppenburg took in the action not only as a proud father, but also as a mentor and teacher of the man who now sits at the helm of the Tulsa Shock. For those of you who don’t know about “Papa Klopp” and his coaching prowess, here is a taste of what he has accomplished in his 50 years of experience:
“It’s about the potential,” Bollant said. “The state of Illinois is really good for women’s basketball, it’s one of the best academic schools in the Big Ten and the country, and then the upgrade to Assembly Hall will give us great facilities as well. “I’m a Midwest guy and recruited a lot in Chicago and the Midwest so all of those different things went into it.” Bollant has a lot of things when it comes to the development of the women’s basketball program, and it all starts with the level of play on the court.
The fact that Auriemma, a coach whose name is synonymous with women’s basketball, would pick the brain of Taurasi, a two-time gold medalist, might seem overly studious. The U.S. women’s team has won four consecutive gold medals and is riding a 33-game win streak. Auriemma and Taurasi are both defined by winning, even more so when paired together. Auriemma will conduct an abbreviated training camp in Seattle before his players return to their WNBA teams. Other countries will have months to prepare for the games. The U.S. team will have played about 15 games together by the medal round. Other national teams will play as many as 30 games before they even arrive in London. Auriemma anticipates that it will be the “most pressure-packed situation that I’ve ever found myself in. If you lose at Connecticut, everybody at Connecticut has a heart attack. If you lose with the U.S. national team, the whole country that follows women’s basketball wants to kill me.”
General manager/coach Marynell Meadors was busy in the offseason trying to strengthen a team coming off consecutive WNBA finals. The team will raise a banner on Friday to honor winning the Eastern Conference in 2011. But that’s not the banner that Meadors or her players want. To that end, she brought in two 3-point shooters in Cathrine Kraayeveld and Laurie Koehn, a steady backup point guard in Ketia Swanier, frontcourt depth in rookie Aneika Henry and backcourt depth in rookie Tiffany Hayes.
Women’s professional basketball remains a blip on the Chicago sports radar, and members of the Sky realize winning more games and making the playoffs would go a long way toward reaching more than grudging acceptance by a niche audience. Toward that goal, Friday night’s home opener against the Indiana Fever at Allstate Arena represents another urgent attempt to start attracting a larger audience.
Australia’s women basketballers have finished second to the US three times in a row and are keen to turn the tables at this year’s Olympics. The Opals’ attempt to wrestle the Olympic gold medal away from the US will be led by two players at opposite ends of the career spectrum. Liz Cambage, 20, will play in her first Olympics while Lauren Jackson, 31, is preparing for her fourth. Both are big names in the American WNBA and will be strike weapons for the Opals in London.
It took a little more prodding than Sky coach/general manager Pokey Chatman thought, but she eventually convinced forward Sonja Petrovic to make the biggest move of her life. Petrovic, 23, is part of a new group of players that Chatman brought in for this season. And Petrovic could play her first game at Allstate Arena on Friday, when the Sky (1-0) hosts the Indiana Fever (1-0) in its home opener (7:30, CN100). But Petrovic’s move to Chicago was a little more complicated than just deciding to leave her Russian team, Spartak. Petrovic was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia, and spent her entire career in Europe. She had never been to the United States.
The Minnesota Lynx have gotten off to a quick start in defense of their WNBA title. The Los Angeles Sparks may have a chance to keep them from repeating. The Lynx and Sparks will both try to improve to 3-0 when they meet at the Target Center on Thursday night. After not receiving much of a challenge in its opener - a 105-83 win over Phoenix on Sunday - Minnesota was tested early at New York on Tuesday before pulling away for an 80-62 victory, its eighth straight going back to last season’s playoff run.
Mike Thibault says that Tina Charles is one of the best centers in the WNBA, which is like saying August is one of the hottest months of the year. Both statements are valid, albeit vastly understated. Leave a lawn without water in August and watch it wither. Take Charles out of the Connecticut Sun lineup and chances are the same thing would happen to the team that most believe will challenge for its first championship this season.
