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June 23, 2009 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) News Release


Mercury Visit Silver Stars for WNBA Tuesdays on ESPN2 The last two Western Conference champions will face each other tonight at 7:30 p.m ET on ESPN2when the San Antonio Silver Stars host the Phoenix Mercury. The Silver Stars are returning home after a tough road trip in which they lost games to the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun. The Mercury are also coming off a loss; they fell into a tie for first place with the Seattle after coming up short against the Storm on Sunday. The Mercury are 25-19 against San Antonio overall and 7-4 against the Silver Stars at the AT&T Center. The Silver Stars swept the season series between the two teams last year, but dropped the 2009 opener at Phoenix, 90-79. All-Star Voting Continues on WNBA.com Voting for the 2009 WNBA All-Star Game continues through July 7 at WNBA.com and in arenas around the league. Fans are asked to vote for two guards, two forwards and one center from each conference.

Defense Wins Games After a slow start to the season with losses to upstarts Atlanta and Minnesota, the Indiana Feverare now one of the WNBA's hottest teams. They have reeled off four straight wins heading into the weekend's home-and-home series with the New York Liberty. What's more impressive is that the four wins have come against some of the traditional WNBA powers: Seattle, Los Angeles and two against Detroit.

The key to Indiana's run has been defense. In the team's first two games, they allowed 91.5 ppg compared to 62.8 ppg in the four-game win streak. Also, the team allowed opponents to shoot 50.0 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from behind the arc in the season-opening losses. The Fever have clamped down on defense and shaved nearly 10 points off opponents' shooting percentage (40.1) and almost 15 points off foes' three-point shooting (28.8) percentage in the last four games. They also lead the league in turnovers forced per game at 19.8 and have pressured opponents into 20 or more turnovers four times.

Seattle, despite their loss to Indiana, is on a hot streak too. The Storm, led by Western Conference Player of the Week Lauren Jackson, have won three of their last four and have caught the Phoenix Mercury in the standings. Like Indiana, Seattle has used defense to ascend the ranks. They currently lead the league in scoring differential at +8.57 and have allowed the second-fewest points per game (69.3). In their last three wins, the team has held the top two offenses in the league, Minnesota (twice) and Phoenix, to point totals of 71, 62 and 84, well below the teams' season averages. The low scores are products of the team's stingy defense; Seattle's defense has held opponents to a league-best 38.1 percent field-goal shooting.

The Kids Are All Right A new generation of WNBA players are making their mark early in the 2009 season. The young front court for the Lynx has helped fuel the team's 4-3 start. Charde Houston, a third-round pick in 2008, is 10th in the WNBA in scoring at 16.9 ppg while Nicky Anosike, the team's second-year center isn't far behind at 12.7 ppg. Additionally, Anosike leads the league in steals per game (3.1), rare for center. Three other second-year players across the league, Sylvia Fowles (12.8), Candice Wiggins (11.6) and Crystal Langhorne (11.0), are averaging over 10 points per game. Fowles is tied for the league lead in rebounds (8.3 rpg) and double-doubles (two).

The player tied with Fowles for the most double-doubles this season is Phoenix's DeWanna Bonner, who was selected fifth in the 2009 Draft. The Mercury rookie has flourished in the team's offense, averaging 12.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Rookie point guards are also off to a good start. Indiana's Briann January leads all first year players with 3.4 assists per game. Chicago's Kristi Toliver had a pair of breakout games last weekend with 14 points againstConnecticut and 13 points against Washington. Meanwhile, Shavonte Zellous of Detroit came off the bench, after starting her first four games, and had the best game of her young career on Sunday with 13 points on 4-6 shooting.

The Early Returns on New WNBA Coaches The three new coaches in the WNBA this season have so far enjoyed varying degrees of success.Minnesota Lynx Head Coach Jen Gillom steered the team to a 3-0 start to open the season. Similarly, Julie Plank led the Washington Mystics to an identical 3-0 start and the team now sits at the top of the Eastern Conference standings at 4-1. Under Rick Mahorn, who was making his head coaching debut, the Detroit Shock dropped their first two games this weekend to the defensive-minded Indiana Fever. This result should have come as no surprise to Shock fans since the team's previous three head coaches each lost the opening game of their tenure.

Candace Parker Speaks About Her Timetable to Return Candace Parker was interviewed at halftime of Sunday's Sparks-Monarchs game and she talked about how she's preparing to return to the WNBA. One day later, the active Twitterer said that herJuly target date looks promising.

Around the WNBA

Washington's Alana Beard and Seattle's Lauren Jackson were named WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week. Katie Smith became the first player in WNBA history to record 5,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 900 assists and 300 steals in her career against the Fever on June 21. Against the Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm starters Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Lauren Jackson each scored 20 or more points. The three combined for 68 of the team's 93 points. The Atlanta Dream notched their first-ever victory against the Washington Mystics with the second-highest point total (93) in team history on June 19, 2009. Chamique Holdsclaw recorded her first double-double of the season against the Washington Mystics, the team that drafted her No. 1 overall in 1999. The Connecticut Sun set a franchise record for assists with 30 against the Sky June 19. Over the weekend, Ruth Riley and Tammy Sutton-Brown became the fifth and sixth players in league history to block 400 career shots. Today's Quotes RICK MAHORN on his first game as head coach: "It's mixed emotions. Bill has a great legacy here and it's some big shoes to fill but I think if your team gets out there and competes like the way we know we can and plays Shock basketball, I'll be OK sitting in that chair." DetroitShock.com, June 19, 2009 JEN GILLOM on how Seimone Augustus is doing following her season-ending knee injury: "She is in better spirits than she was (on Thursday). She was more talkative this time. You couldn't get a word out of her before because she was so upset. I think she's kind of accepted it a little bit and is starting to think about the future. She said she wants to be with this team and wants to support this team and she's going to be there at every practice, which shows a lot of character for her. We're going to need her." June 19, 2009

CAPPIE PONDEXTER on the importance of a hot start to the season: "You don't want to be the team that's hunting. You want to be the team people are hunting after. It's hard hunting after teams. And only four teams can make it (to the playoffs). It's hard fighting in the West because it's so competitive. Every team in the West is really good. You can't take any days off." Arizona Republic, June 23, 2009

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