Chamique Holdsclaw Returns to the WNBA

One of the most talented players to come out of Tennessee, Chamique Holdsclaw, has returned to the WNBA. After a 2 year hiatus of playing only in the European league, Atlanta has negotiated her trade from Los Angeles to the Dream franchise in exchange for the 13th pick of the first round in the up coming 2009 WNBA draft.

“Coming back has been something that I have been thinking about for a while,” Holdsclaw said. “The only thing that was holding me back was my body and being healthy. I realized that if I had the chance I would like to play this summer.”

Holdsclaw will bring much needed experience to Atlanta

Holdsclaw is an 8-year veteran bound to bring much needed experience and leadership to our young team. She began her WNBA career in 1999 where she was the overall first round draft pick for the Washington Mystics. While there, she played 6 years for the Mystics and averaged 19 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and was awarded the WNBA Rookie of the Year.

In 2005, Holdsclaw was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks where she played 2 seasons and averaged 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

In June 2007, Holdsclaw announced her retirement from the WNBA but continued her basketball career over seas. Most recently she has been playing in Poland averaging17.6 points per game for TS Wisla Can-Pack Krakow in Euroleague.

“I’m just happy that Chamique is back in the WNBA,” said Dream General Manager & Head Coach Marynell Meadors. “I just think she really misses the game. I am looking forward to having her. She elevates our team to another level.”

To read more about Atlanta’s acquisition of Chamique Holdsclaw go to the Atlanta Dream website.

“We just were not making shots,” said coach Meadors. “We had open looks and we just did not knock them down. We kept missing, kept missing, kept missing and they kept scoring and kept pushing us down.”

Atlanta started slow and never really got a grove going. They shot only 15% from the field during the first quarter making only 3-out-of-20 shots to end the period 21-6, Chicago.

In the 2nd period, Chicago pushed a 13-2 run including 10 points from Candice Dupree to advance their lead to 44-17 at the half.

The Sky made a 6-0 run late in the 3rd, gaining a 26 point lead, 62-36 going into the 4th.

Atlanta finally kicked it into gear outscoring the Sky 30-17 during the 4th quarter but ti was a little to late for a win.

Jennifer Lacy and Betty Lennox scored 11 each and Kristine Haynie added 9.

Ivory Latta led the Dream with 18 points with 16 of her 18 in the first half to win over the Chicago Sky, 91-84 on Saturday night.

Latta was so excited about the win she danced around the court with her teammates surrounding her as blue and white confetti poured over them.

“It was just this great feeling inside knowing we finally got one,” Latta said. “I looked up into the crowd and saw all the smiling faces and felt that this is what they deserve.”

Kristin Haynie added 11 points with 11 assists.

“Everyone stepped up and just had the mind-set of contributing,” Haynie said. “It was all about us getting it done.”

And they got it done! They came back from 13-points down in the first quarter when Tamera Young, Betty Lennox and Iziane Castro Marques contributed 10 points each. Jennifer Lacy added 11, 18 points overall, to help the Dream get to a 46-35 lead at half time. Lacy says the team never gave up.

“There was so much time left,” Lacy said. “We couldn’t give up. We couldn’t let this one slip through, so we kept pushing.”

Chicago did bounce back in the second half to push a 1 point lead, 81-80, with just under 2 mintues to go in regulation.

But the momentum changed after Young made 2 free throws to put Atlanta up by 1. Then Latta scored a layup and Young added 2 more free throws to put them up by 5 with less than a minute to play.

“She’s a winner, she’s an absolute winner,” coach Meadors said of Latta. “It’s never say die with her. She just looks at me with those big eyes and I know she wants it.”

With 20 seconds left to go, Chicago’s Jia Perkins hit a 3 to cut the Atlanta lead to 2, 86-84. But the Dream pulled away by hitting 5 more free throws to win the game 91-84.

With the win, Atlanta has some newfound confidence says coach Meadors.

“We finally got some smiles,” coach said. “We can actually walk with our heads up high and shoulders back. I think now we’ll be OK.”

The first period was sloppy for Atlanta. They shot 1-for-17 from the field and committed 8 turnovers, allowing Houston to jump to a 15-2 lead.

The 3 quarter was the highlight of the game for Atlanta when they made a 7 point run led by Kristin Haynie’s 3-pointer and a layup by Katie Feenstra to cut the Houston’s lead to 51-45.

“I was proud of the way the bench stepped up and was happy to give them an opportunity because they have been working so hard,” coach Meadors said.

In the fourth, the Dream rallied with a steal and layup from Ivory Latta. Then hit 3 free throws to cut the lead to within 3, 68-65. But Houston’s Shannon Johnson hit a short jumper and made 2 free throws to put the game away.

Betty Lennox led the Dream with 15 points.

Atlanta became the first team in the WNBA to hit the midpoint of the season without a win.

And it was Detroit that delivered that 13th loss on Sunday, 97-76.

Coach Meadors is a realist. She understands that it will take time to build a strong team but with a 13-game loosing streak for the first season of franchise history can easily dissolve the early optimism.

You can hear the frustration in her words.

“I’m going to lose this year, OK?” Coach Meadors said. “We know the chances of us having a great year are not good.”

But there is still hope. Maybe not for this season although, at least 1 win would help, but when Detroit was down 13 games in 2002 they came back and won a championship in 2003. And have been a contending team ever since.

“Man, we just have to get that monkey off our back,” said Ivory Latta, who scored a career-high 26 points and 10 assists.

Betty Lennox, fifth in the league in scoring with 18.9 points, only had 5 and shot 2-for-6.

Iziane Castro Marques added 10 points.

Detroit led most of the game with the largest margin of 21 points until Plennette Pierson hit a short jumper with 1:30 left in the first half to bump that number to 23.

With 47 seconds left in the third quarter, Latta hit a 3 to cut the Detroit lead to 8. But the Shock answered with a 10-3 run, topped off by a 3 from Humphrey just before the end of the period.

The frustration runs deep in the new Dream team but they just need to put it behind them and get that first win. It will all come together after that. We as fans just need to be patient.

“Of course we didn’t want to become the first team to lose to them,” Tan White said after she scored a season-high 21 points and led the Indiana Fever to a 76-67 win over the Dream on Friday night.

Atlanta is 0-9, the third-longest winless streak to open a WNBA season. The Houston Comets lost their first 10 games in 2007, and the Detroit Shock started 0-13 in 2002.

“We don’t even look at the record,” Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors said. “We look at the next opponent. We’re just trying to find the right chemistry, and I think I’ve found a pretty good lineup the last two games.”

Atlanta led by 12 points in the fourth quarter of an 81-77 loss to New York on Wednesday night before giving the Fever a late challenge on Friday.

“We’re seven and nine points away from a win and somehow we have to figure out a way to do that,” Meadors said.

White scored 11 points in the first half to reach double figures for a seventh straight game. Ebony Hoffman had 12 points, and Tammy Sutton-Brown added 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Indiana’s Katie Douglas third in the league in scoring at 20 points per game, had two in the first half and finished with 11. White took advantage of Atlanta’s extra defensive attention on Douglas.

“We were basically reading mismatches,” White said. “We knew we had smaller guards on us. When they doubled (Douglas), I was open on the other wing. They just did a great job of finding me and getting me the ball.”

The Fever expect to have five-time All-Star Tamika Catchings back for Sunday’s home game against the San Antonio Silver Stars. Catchings has been sidelined since tearing her right Achilles’ tendon in the playoffs last year.

Catchings has led Indiana in scoring, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in each of her six seasons, but White said the Fever should not expect that type of production immediately.

“We’re excited that she’s coming back, but we have to stick with how we’ve been playing,” White said. “She’ll be with us, but I’m not sure if she can come out and give us 20 or 30 minutes from the start. We can’t get out of what we’re doing. Hopefully after a few games or a couple of weeks she’ll be ready.”

Ivory Latta and Tamera Young each scored 14 points for Atlanta but combined to go 9-of-27 from the field. Latta tied her career high with six assists. Betty Lennox had 13 points.

A 3-pointer by White gave Indiana a 59-48 lead with 7:38 left, and a free throw by Douglas pushed the advantage to 15 before the Dream staged a late rally.

Atlanta’s Kristen Mann made a 3-pointer with 1:49 left, and Latta’s layup with 1:01 remaining pulled the Dream to 70-64 but that was as close as they would come.

The Dream’s 24 turnovers led to 21 points for Indiana.

Latta made buzzer-beating shots at the end of each of the first two periods, each requiring a video review by the officials. Latta’s turnaround jumper at the end of the first half cut Indiana’s lead to 32-29.

Young, a rookie, had career highs in points, assists (four), steals (four) and blocked shots (two).