There are five games on the schedule tonight with the Seattle Storm just looking to establish any sort of rhythm while the Connecticut Sun try to clinch a regular season series and the Minnesota Lynx look to set a record for dominance.
A little bit of everything to start your basketball weekend.
- Aaron Lommers of the Everett Herald reports that Seattle Storm coach Brian Agler doesn't believe it's time for his team to panic yet despite holding the second-worst record in the league at 1-7. Tonight they finish a five-game road trip - their 7th road game in the first 9 games of the season - against the 0-8 Tulsa Shock, the only team they have beaten this season. Read more >>>
- Marc Allard of the Norwich Bulletin reports that the Connecticut Sun are looking at tonight's game against the New York Liberty as a significant game even though the season is only 8 games old (which, for what it's worth, is more than 1/5 of the WNBA season). With a win tonight, the Sun will clinch the regular season series against the Liberty. Read more >>>
- John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant writes that as big a problem as simply putting the ball in the basket was for the Connecticut Sun against the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday night, their inability to find an answer for forward Candace Parker might have been even more significant. In a major win against a winning team on the road, the Sparks showed that they could possibly be even more potent at full strength (with Nicky Anosike and Ebony Hoffman healthy). Read more >>>
- Odeen Domingo of the Arizona Republic reports on what might be the most impressive thing about Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner this season: she's leading the team in scoring without the team even calling plays for her. Bonner credits her experience overseas with helping her game grow. Read more >>>
- Allard also reports that Sun center, UConn alum, and U.S. women's basketball senior national team member Tina Charles was surprised to hear about the lawsuit against UConn and U.S. women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma and hopes that the whole whole thing will soon be over so that it doesn't cause a distraction during the 2012 Olympic games. Read more >>>
- The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a nice video up on their site about the Minnesota Lynx' attitude about playing for history when they face the Mercury tonight in Phoenix. If the Lynx can win on the road, a 10-0 record would set the league record for best start to a season. Read more >>>
- Lisa Leslie wrote for the Huffington Post that one of the things that has changed during the course of Title IX's existence is that a female athlete doesn't have to drop 101 points in a high school game to garner attention - with each generation making the sport better for the next, women's sports themselves have built a platform that has earned some spotlight. Read more >>>
- Bryan Toporek of Education Week writes that while experts are unanimous that progress has been made for women in sports, the statistics show that the participation of female athletes in the 2010-11 school year still does not match the number of male athletes from 1971-72. Lisa Maatz, the director of public policy and government relations for the American Association of University Women, says that the take away less from Title IX at the 40 year mark is still that if you create opportunities for girls, interest levels in sports will rise. Read more >>>
- Juliana Keeping of the Oklahoman reports that Minnesota Lynx and Skylar Diggins fan Lil Wayne was a no-show for Game 2 of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City last night after stirring up controversy because he wasn't able to get a seat for the Western Conference Finals, suggesting race played factor, and then had some choice words about how he was treated for Game 1 of the Finals. One Thunder fan suggested he's expecting too much, but perhaps we can assume that the Lynx spoiled him last year and set the bar high for game day treatment? As an aside, an exciting game was played on the court, maybe even ushering in the NBA's next golden age, according to Henry Abbott of True Hoop. Read more >>>
As usual, feel free to leave any other links you've come across in the comments as well as discussing the links above and adding all of your brilliant insights and predictions for tonight's games.