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 Getting her feet wet Holdsclaw scores 14 points in exhibition
Posted: Sunday May 23, 1999 10:47 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tempting as it might have been, Chamique Holdsclaw didn't try to be a one-woman show in her first WNBA exhibition game. Still, her numbers were good -- 14 points and 13 rebounds -- and there were more than enough flashes of the excellence yet to come in the Washington Mystics' 76-71 victory over the Utah Starzz Saturday night. "You come out here and you're really trying to play as a team," Holdsclaw said. "Sometimes you have an open shot, and you're like, 'No, I'm not going to take this. Let me swing it to my teammate.' You don't want to be a ball-hog." Proclaimed the female Michael Jordan -- and playing in a triangle offense made popular by Jordan's Chicago Bulls -- the WNBA's No. 1 overall draft pick grabbed the game's first rebound. She flashed a huge smile after scoring her first points on a short turnaround baseline jumper 4:52 into the game. The 6-foot-2 forward, slithering through the paint to work herself open, was 5-for-11 from the field in 29 minutes. Her every touch of the ball brought cheers from the crowd of 9,028, and her two air balls were quickly forgiven. "I was little nervous, a little tentative, didn't have the flow on the ball," Holdsclaw said. "But I think Coach understands that. They kept looking at me, like, 'Are you OK? Are you nervous?' They don't want me to come out here and think I have to live up to some expectation. I just go and have fun, and I think I did that tonight." The Mystics led the WNBA in attendance last year with an average crowd of 15,898 despite the expansion team's 3-27 record. Coach Nancy Darsch, going for the win, had her starters in the game in the final minute, but the move may have backfired when Nikki McCray mildly sprained her right ankle with 5.7 seconds to play. Darsch said she did not know how long McCray will be out. McCray finished with 18 points, including two fastbreak layups in the final 2:17 after Utah had cut a six-point lead to one. Natalie Williams scored 18 points and Wendy Palmer had 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Starzz, who are shorthanded until Margo Dydek and Elena Baranova finish their seasons in Europe. Holdsclaw, who led Tennessee to three national championships, had six offensive rebounds. Washington had 18 offensive rebounds to Utah's nine, accounting for a 17-4 advantage in second-chance points. "Both she and Nikki got the game started off on the right foot by giving the ball up and running the offense," Darsch said. "And they found their shots later on." Holdsclaw's exhibition debut came against the team she didn't want to play for. On draft day, expressing a preference to be near her New York home, she said: "I was praying I wouldn't go to Utah." Holdsclaw said she meant no offense by the remark. "I know most of the team, and Natalie's a good friend of mine," Holdsclaw said. "She knows I was just joking."
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