The Battalion
PORTS
Wednesday *June 18,19 1
Preview
Continued from Page 3
“I think (the WNBA) is going to
work and work well,” he said. “If I was
spending sports marketing bucks it
would be in women’s professional
basketball.”
The year-old ABL, operating with
much less TV exposure and corporate
sponsorship but with many good play
ers, believes the market is big enough for
two women’s leagues, especially since it
plays in the fall, while the WNBA plays in
the summer.
“It’s a competitive situation. We’re
the underdog. But ultimately, this is
great for women’s basketball,” ABL’s
co-founder Gary Cavelli said. “Two
years ago, great college players had
two choices: drop their sport or play
overseas. Now, exposure to women’s
basketball is at an ,all-time high in
this country.”
The WNBA hopes it will continue
to grow.
Although the league estimates an
average attendance of just 4,000, the
TV audience will be much bigger. The
three WNBA games a week will be
broadcast on ESPN, NBC or Lifetime.
(NBC will show the inaugural game
between the Los Angeles Sparks and
the visiting Liberty).
The 28-game regular season runs
through August, with the winners of
the Eastern and Western conferences
and the two teams with the next best
records advancing to single-elimina
tion playoff games.
The league features Olympians and
^ ^ If I was spending
sports marketing
bucks it would be in
women’s professional
basketball.”
Richard Luker
Executive director of the
ESPN Chilton Sports Poll
top college players, like Lisa Leslie of the
Sparks and the Houston Comets’ Sheryl
Swoopes, who is expecting her first child
this month and may not play this season.
Foreign professionals also have
signed up, including Elena Baranova of
Russia, a 6-5 center/forward with the
Utah Starzz, and Catarina Pollini, a 6-5
forward with the Comets who also plays
in the Italian league.
Among the WNBA’s 80 players, 15 are
from 14 countries outside the United
States, 22 are former Olympians and 12
have won Olympic gold medals. The
ABL, on the other hand, limits each team
to two foreign-born players.
“The WNBA has the best players
from around the world,” Ackerman
said. “These women have been play
ing in obscurity overseas. People’s
heads will turn when they see the skill
of these women.”
Indeed. The WNBA game will be
played at a level that will shock fans,
with an up-tempo, physical style like
the NBA, players and coaches say.
“When I look at the ABL, it’s much
more of a guard-based game, with so
many of the good young college guards,”
said Mary Murphy, coach of the WNBA’s
Sacramento Monarchs.
“The WNBA will be much more of a
post-game, and we have a great inside-
out game. Overseas leagues look for post
players, 6-foot-2, 6-3 and up. We have
those players.”
Pollini warns against comparing the
women’s game with the men’s.
“Basketball is basketball. Physically,
the difference between men and women
is big. But technically, what we can do
with the ball can be very good,” Pollini
said.
“Of course, we can’t dunk every
time. But basketball isn’t only dunk
ing or alley-oops. Just go out and see
what we can do,” she said. “When
you go see a team score after five
players touch the ball, that’s great
basketball, too.”
6-0
WNBA team rosters
Eastern Conference
Charlotte Sting
Pos. Ht.
F
55
23
3 Andrea Congre£iy|||i' .
50 Sharon ManniQ^om^ 1
51 Rhonda Mapp
Andrea Stinson
Tora Super
Milica Vukadii
Debra Williams
Head coach - Marynell Meadors
No.
32
Name
Katasha Artis
Michi Atkins
Vicky Bullett
College
Northeastern ’95
Texas Tech ’96
Maryland ’89
Mercer '92/Great Britian
N.C. State '91
N.C. State '92
N.C. State '91
J. Virginia '97
- Berkeley ’93/Yugoslavia
Louisiana Tech '96
14
44
11
Cleveland Rockers
Name Pos. Ht. College
Jenny Boucek <3 5-8 Virginia '96
8 Janice Lawrence Braxton C 6-3 Louisiana Tech '84
Michelle F-dWatds (3 5-9 Iowa '88
Isabelle Fijalkowski C/F 6-5 Colorado '95/France
Donna Harrington C/F 6-1 Old Dominion'88
Merlakii Jones \ G/F 5-9 .Florida'95
Anita Maxwell . F; 5-11 Now Mexico State'96
Eva Nemcova \ ’ Jp, 6-2 Czech Republic
Tina Nicholson'y : ' Penn State'97
Lynette Woodara G 6-0 Kansas '81
Head coach - Linda Hill-MacDonald
No
Name
4 Janeth Arcain
14 Cynthia Cooper
8 Pietra Gay
9 Wanda Guytor
3 Patty Jo Hedgi
6 Nekeshia I
23 Tammy Jai
11 Catarina Pi
43 Racquel Spurlock
22 Sheryl Swoopes
7 Tina Thompson
Houston Comets
Pos. Ht.
F 5-11
F 6-0
F 6-3
Head coach - Van Chancellor
College
Brazil
USC '86
Louisiana State '97
Florida '89
jpky '83
'95
Ida '85
Italy
Louisiana Tech '97
Texas Tech '93
USC '97
WNBA team rosters
Western Conference
Los Angeles Sparks
No. Name
42 Linda Burgess
32 Daedra Charles
12 Katrina Colleton
21 Tamecka Dixon^
34 Travesa GanJ,
9 Lisa Leslii
4 Mwadi Mai
11 Penny Tolei*^
10 Jamila Wideman
28 Zheng Haixia ‘ ’‘’’SS&.'xPI&B
Head coach - Linda Sharp
Phoenix Mercury
No. Name Pos. Ht.
42 Monique Ambers F 6-4
14 Marlies Askamp 6-5
Toni Foster / jipPfcL— 6-0
Jennifer Gillom/6-3
J-tt
College
bama '92
nnessee '91
land '93
is'97
tar '94
Long Beach State •
Stanford '97
China
0
22
3 Tia Jackson -
10 Nancy LiebermaijS
32 Bridget Pettis^
7 Michele Timm^P 1 '/
21 Umeki Webb //
31 Tara Williams*** - F
Head coach - Cheryl Miller
College
Arizona State '93
Germany
Iowa '93
Mississippi '86
5-10 'Old Dbmfhion 80
5-9^, FlQnda 93
Australia
5-9 N.C. State '97
5-11 Auburn'97
No. Name
40 Tajama Abraham
6 Ruthie Bolton-Hollfietep
30 Bridgette Gordon ^
33 Denique Graves
24 Mikiko Hagiwara ^
5 Pamela McGi
7 Judy Mosley-1
10 Eliza Sokolow!
3 Chantel Tremiti
20 Corissa Yasen
Head coach - MTary Murphy
Sacramento Monarchs
Pga, Ht. College
6 ‘ 2 *0 Geor 9 e Washington S?
J Auburn '89
W8r Tennessee
Howard 97
wm Ja P an
S, ^ '^ 84 c
I- 6-1 Hawaii £
Ofkwl
sulfa
iypal
I
seef
/; ' 96/Pola,M
F PqMue’ga
New York Liberty
Pos. Ht.
. G 5-6
ycY; G/F 5-10
Name
Rhonda Blades
Kisha Ford
Kym Hampton JS
Vickie Johnsony(pi^-aFUf F,
Rebecca Loboj. "vV .6-47
Jasmina PeraZiC i &pe'\|y'G9*. -.ft;* *
Trena Trice
Teresa Weathersp<pifS^* >; ' A *■'
Sue Wicks
Sophia Witherspoon
Head coach - Nancy Darsch
College
Vanderbilt '95
Georgia Tech 97
Arizona State 84
uisiana Tech ’96
nnecticut 95
MtSryland '83/Yugoslavia
Bhrfii C. State '87
Y Louisiana Tech '88
Rutgers '88
tO Florida'91
Name
Elena Baranova
Deborah Carter
Megan Compain
Lady Hardmon
Dena Head
Jessie Hicki
Wendy Pali
Tammi Reii
Raegan Scott'
Kim Williams
Head coach - Denise Taylor
Utah Starzz
Pos. Ht.
College
Russia
Georgia 93
Joseph’s OTNeuZe*
;gia 92
see 92
and 93
Irginia 96
Virginia 92
Colorado 97
DePaul 97
Source: WNBA
Players
Continued from Page 3
Leslie, a 6-foot-5 center,
signed with a modeling
agency after leading the
Olympic team with a 19.5
scoring average.
She first grabbed head
lines in 1990 by scoring
101 first-half points for
Morningside (Calif.) High
School and undoubtedly
would have broken the na
tional high school scoring
record of 105 points if the
opposing coach hadn’t
pulled his team off the
court. (Cheryl Miller,
coach of the Mercury,
holds the record).
“When I was younger,
players that were older
would say, ‘Oh, don’t wor
ry about it, by the time
you get older, there will be
a professional league,”’
said Leslie, an All-Ameri
can and national player of
the year at Southern Cal.
“I came out of college
and there wasn’t one. I went
overseas and played in Italy
and went through the same
struggles that they had. But
I thank God that I’m only 24
and I’m still in my prime,
able to improve.”
Teams and some marquee
PLAYERS OF THE WNBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE:
Charlotte Sting — Vicky Bullett, 1988
Olympic gold medalist.
Cleveland Rockers — Lynette
Woodard, 1984 Olympic gold medalist.
Houston Comets Sheryl Swoopes,
1996 Olympic gold medalist; 1993 NCAA
champion, Texas Tech (on maternity leave).
New York Liberty — Rebecca Lobo,
1996 Olympic gold medalist; 1995 NCAA
champion, Connecticut.
WESTERN CONFERENCE:
Los Angeles Sparks — Lisa Leslie, 1996
Olympic gold medalist.
Phoenix Mercury — Nancy Lieberman-
Cline, 1976 Olympic silver medalist; 1979,
1980 AIAW champion, Old Dominion.
Sacramento Monarchs —- Ruthie
Bolton-Holifieid, 1996 Olympic gold
medalist.
Utah Starzz — Dena Head, 1991 NCAA
champion, Tennessee.
1
Soccer gets a whif of scandal
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) —
Where there is money, there is
temptation. And from World Cup
champion Brazil to a soccer also-
ran like Belgium, talk of bribes and
game-fixing pervade the sport as
much as talk of goals and standings.
On Tuesday, in the latest scandal
to hit Belgian soccer, the federation
suspended two officials on corrup
tion charges but ruled Eendracht
Aalst could stay in the top division
despite claims it bought games to
avoid relegation to a lower division.
Earlier this year, Anderlecht ad
mitted its former chairman paid
about $550,000 to a soccer agent who
threatened to publicly accuse Bel-
rl'ol
I
,'chl
d
tarse
■•?AP|
fJonT
glum’s most famous club of bribin
its way to the 1984 UEFA Cup final.
Anderlecht maintains its inno
cence, claiming its chairman paii
the bribes only to protect his
tation. European soccer authoritie!
are still investigating.
In Brazil, where soccer unleashes
much passion as perhaps anywhere if
the world, scandal struck last week.
The country’s Superior Sports]
Tribunal banned both Iven|
Mendes, the head of the referei
committee until his resignationlas|ff()|
month, and Mario Celso Petragilia,
president of Atletico Paranaense
for life from the game followinj ' 1UI
game-fixing charges.
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