Powell to Replace Leslie For 2009 All-Star Game
July 22, 2009 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) News Release
NEW YORK, July 22, 2009 - Sacramento Monarchs forward Nicole Powell has been named as a replacement player for the 2009 WNBA All-Star Game WNBA President Donna Orender announced today.
Powell, a sixth-year pro who will be playing in her first All-Star Game, fills the Western Conference roster spot vacated by the Los Angeles Sparks' Lisa Leslie, who has been sidelined since suffering a knee injury against the Phoenix Mercury in the fifth game of the season.
The third overall pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft and winner of the league's Most Improved Player award in 2005 when Sacramento won the WNBA title, Powell currently leads the Monarchs in scoring, averaging a personal career-best 15.1 points per game, and ranks second on the club in rebounds (5.1). She also ranks second overall in the WNBA in three-point fields goals made with 42 (statistics based on games played through Tuesday, July 21).
The league's ninth All-Star Game will be held on Saturday, July 25 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. and will be televised nationally on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.
As previously announced, San Antonio Head Coach Dan Hughes will coach the West by virtue of winning the 2008 Western Conference title. The East will be led by Indiana Head Coach Lin Dunn, who was named the coach after the Fever clinched the best winning percentage in the Eastern Conference for games through July 15. This method was used because Bill Laimbeer, head coach of the 2008 Eastern Conference champion Detroit Shock, stepped down from his post in early June.
As coach of the West squad, Hughes will select from the West roster a player to insert into the starting lineup in place of Leslie, who had earned the honor by a vote of WNBA fans.
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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from July 22, 2009
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