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WNBA Seattle Storm

Whitcomb, Quinn Step up to the Olympic Stage

July 30, 2024 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Seattle Storm News Release


SEATTLE - Playing in the Olympics never gets old. Just ask Jewell Loyd. Or Ezi Magbegor. Or even Lauren Jackson.

But for two members of the Seattle Storm, it'll all be brand-new.

When a parade of some 100 boats floated down the Seine River for the opening ceremonies in Paris on July 24, Loyd was part of the grand celebration for the second time. Ditto for Magbegor. For LJ, it was be the fifth time.

Storm head coach Noelle Quinn and guard Sami Whitcomb took it all in for the very first time.

"Definitely, the dream was to play in the Olympics," said Quinn, who was involved in some qualifying games with Bulgaria during her playing days, but the team ultimately didn't make it. "To be a coach is a very high honor.

"It's my dream come true - just in a different role," she added. "I'm just blessed to be a part of Team Canada and have an opportunity to win a medal."

Whitcomb will be in action for Team Australia, one of six Storm connections with the Opals. A naturalized Australian citizen since 2018, Whitcomb has played in a pair of FIBA World Cups for Australia, with a silver medal in 2018 and a bronze in 2022. She was in the player pool for the pandemic-delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but was not selected.

So this moment has been a long time coming.

"I'm just trying to play good basketball and enjoying it," Whitcomb said. "I don't have any sort of impact on selection. They could have said at that point (after the 2021 Olympics), 'You're no longer in the pool.' But they didn't. I was invited back to camp and I'm just trying to play really good basketball and see where it goes."

QUINN: QUIETLY RIGHT AT HOME ON WORLD HOOPS STAGE

Quinn was with five WNBA teams during her career, but has intimately become linked to the Storm. In 2018, during her second playing stint here, she helped Seattle win the franchise's third championship. In 2020, she was the associate head coach on the fourth title team.

Now, the soft-spoken Quinn is in her fourth year as head coach and has the Storm smack in the middle of the playoff picture, heading into a one-month shutdown for the All-Star Game and then the Olympics.

Ultimately, her longtime presence in the W (she was a rookie with Minnesota in 2007) was a big factor in Quinn being chosen as head coach Victor Lapena's lead assistant in January 2022.

"They wanted a WNBA-experienced coach, but (also) wanted international experience," Quinn said. "I didn't have international experience as a coach, but I have the WNBA experience that he doesn't. (Lapena was a longtime women's coach in Spain, serving as a national team assistant at the 2016 Rio Olympics and at the 2018 World Championships.)

So they felt like the combination of us two was great."

The Canadian opportunity for Quinn was a case of right place, right time.

"Honestly, it was just an opening," she said. "My agent reached out and their people were reaching out, as well. I went through the interview process, and I really enjoyed that process and I really enjoyed the people. They're very nice, very focused and driven, but also just very nice and people-oriented. They care so much about people and humanity, and it's cool. I feel a connection in that with them."

At the time of her hiring in the first few days of 2022, the world at large was on the back end of the coronavirus pandemic. But things were mostly getting back to normal.

"It was still a different time, but I was excited," Quinn said. "It was a new opportunity. I just wanted to make the best of my experience, and I feel like I have up to this point."

Canada's roster, which was announced on July 2, includes four players currently playing in the WNBA. One of those is guard Kia Nurse, who spent last season with the Storm before being traded to the Los Angeles Sparks last winter. Others are Aliyah Edwards of Washington, Laeticia Amihere of Atlanta, and Bridget Carleton of Minnesota.

Australia, which is part of Canada's preliminary group in Paris, also has numerous WNBA players.

"They are leaning on me to give some scouting advice on the WNBA players, as well," Quinn said. "That is one thing they are looking for me to provide is expertise from the W and how we can combat their talent in international play."

An assistant coach anywhere at any level brings some certain plusses to the job. Quinn is straight-forward about what hers are.

"Just my knowledge of the game and really who I am as an individual," she said. "And the connection with the players and all those things that matter when you're an assistant.

"I'm just being who I am."

WHITCOMB: PLAYING FOR MORE THAN JUST HER COUNTRY

She's 36. Married. Mother of two.

And playing in her first Olympics.

Was that confluence of factors ever on Sami Whitcomb's radar?

"Kate (Malpass, Whitcomb's wife) and I laughed the other day: When we first came to the U.S. for the WNBA, at first we weren't even sure if I would make the team," Whitcomb recalled of signing with the Storm as a free agent in 2017. "After one year, we thought maybe it would be just a one-year thing. By the time we got to the second year and the Storm won a championship (in 2018), we had kind of created a home here with the Storm.

"That's when we started dreaming about the family we wanted to create," she continued. "That's when the Opals (Australia's national team) and the Olympics goals really came into play, and the World Championships and all of that. It sounds kind of funny to say that maybe it wasn't for me when I was 35 or 36. Maybe it was Tokyo.

"But the dream was definitely there to play in the Olympics, to have kids, to have a family and do it all together."

While she is a first-time Olympian, the sharp-shooting guard - who on July 12 drained three consecutive 3-pointers at the outset of the fourth quarter to help the Storm pull away and beat the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Lynx - has some high-level international experience.

Whitcomb played with the Opals team in the 2018 FIBA World Cup and came away with a silver medal. In the fall of 2021, Whitcomb and her Aussie teammates won bronze as the FIBA Asia Cup. Then in 2022, Whitcomb was named part of the All-Star Five at the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament.

"The World Cup campaigns are high-pressure situations. I've played in championship games with the Storm in big moments, and all sorts of games in terms of the pressure you feel," she said. "The Olympics are the Olympics. I'm just really excited."

Although she was confident of making the squad, it's still never official until that phone call finally comes.

"Sandy (head coach Brondello) called me when I was driving to shootaround and said, 'Congratulations -you made the team,'" Whitcomb said. "It was incredibly special. Even if you're someone who has been a part of it and have a good shot, you still don't know until you know. It's a moment where it's official and you really can actually allow yourself to really believe it. That was a cool moment for me."

Now that she's heading to Paris, Whitcomb certainly won't be making the trip alone. Kate will be coming along, as will Nash (age 3½) and Reef (almost 8 months).

"Nash is super-excited about it. He was there when we medaled at Worlds, and I have a photo of him holding my medal," Whitcomb said. "He already understood the excitement of that. Reef might not remember it, but he'll still get to share and still get to be part of the photos and memories."

Whitcomb isn't the only mom on the Opals. Former Storm star Jackson has two boys (Harry and Lennon) and Cayla George has a daughter (Pearl).

"There are lots of family connections with moms on the team, so I'm really excited to get to do that with all of them," Whitcomb said.

Long after Whitcomb will have forgotten any of the final scores or how many points she had, she'll definitely remember who was there cheering her on.

"It's amazing for me, and it's extra motivation to get a chance to do it with the boys," she said. "When we look back on it, my family has been with me every step of the way. It's really beautiful that we get to go and share it together.

"It's a perspective I get of seeing the game through my kids' eyes and just being reminded of why I play and why I love it so much."

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