
Eastern conference wnba teams professional#
The WNBA’s birth is rooted in that history, weighed down by forces that have sought to stifle the existence of women’s team sports, and inspired by men and women who believed that women could and should play in a professional league in the United States. Avoiding the Women’s Division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation’s attempt to strangle the sport in the late ‘20s by eliminating high school tournaments, a final exhilarating zig-zag through the nationwide explosion of the game’s popularity in the 1900’s would find you at the starting place: a gym at Smith College in 1892, right down the road from the birthplace of men’s basketball, Springfield, MA. Further down the road would be the legacy of US National Teams in the 50’s, and 60’s and the "industrial teams" of 1930’s and 40’s sponsored by companies such as Maytag and Hanes Hosiery. Next, you’d circle the major road marker of Title IX of the Educational Amendment s Act of 1972, which revitalized and revolutionized women’s college athletics. Retracing their route backwards through time, you would see the first NCAA women’s basketball champions, Louisiana Tech (1982), pass the Women’s Basketball League of 1979-81, and pause for a visit with the Mighty Macs of tiny Immaculata University (Malvern, PA), winner s of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women’s first collegiate basketball championship ( 1972). A four-year starter at the University of Virginia, in 1977 Ackerman had been one of school's first female students to receive an athletic scholarship.Īs the orange and oatmeal-paneled ball was tossed into the air, their names were added to the ever-expanding road of women’s basketball history. Between the two stood league president Val Ackerman. Hampton, who’d graduated from Arizona State University in 1984, had spent the last twelve years playing professional basketball in Spain, Italy, France, and Japan. Leslie, 25, had just earned an Olympic gold medal as part of the 1996 US National team. All rights reserved.On June 21st, 1997, Lisa Leslie, center for the Los Angeles Sparks, and Kym Hampton, center for the New York Liberty, took the ceremonial "jump ball" marking the official start of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information / Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. ^ Back to Top ^ © 2023 ESPN Internet Ventures. “But obviously it’s difficult playing such a good team, smart such a seasoned team, veteran team back to back like this. “We know everybody in the league has to do this at some point,” Hammon said. The teams have a day off Wednesday before meeting again on the same floor Thursday night.
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This was the first meeting of the two teams since the Aces beat the Sun in this arena 78-71 in Game 4 of the Finals last September to win the WNBA title. They finished 10 of 26 from behind the arc and shooting 41% from the floor. The Sun shot just 31% in the first half and made just two of their 14 attempts from 3-point range. Nobody wants to come out without winning the ballgame, but I think we got some good momentum that we can build on.” “We played more like Connecticut Sun basketball in the second half. “We kept coming at them," Sun coach Stephanie White said.
Eastern conference wnba teams free#
It was 74-56 before Allen led the Sun on a 17-2 run in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to just three points.īut a driving layup and free throw from Young pushed the lead back to 84-77 with 1:15 to go and the Aces held on. “So for us, we knew we had to come in with the mindset of making sure that we could take the first punch, but also be able to throw it at the same time. “We have a history of having slow starts,” Wilson said. Vegas led 48-31 at the half and 70-53 after three quarters. The Aces jumped out to an early 11-4 lead, led 25-14 after a quarter and never trailed.Ī steal and a layup by Candace Parker pushed the lead to 19 at 46-27. Rebecca Allen scored 22 points for the Sun, hitting four of her six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.Īlyssa Thomas had her seventh double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for the Eastern Conference leaders, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. “The good thing is that we played solid enough and we buckled down enough towards the end of that fourth quarter to walk out of here with a win,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. Kelsey Plum had 17 points and Chelsea Gray added 14 points for the Aces. Jackie Young added 22 points for Vegas (7-0), which led by as many as 19 points and withstood a furious fourth quarter comeback by Connecticut (6-2). A'Ja Wilson scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and the defending champion Las Vegas Aces remained undefeated, holding off Connecticut 90-84 in a rematch of the teams who played in last year's WNBA Finals. Las Vegas holds off Connecticut 90-84 in rematch of last year's WNBA finals
