They've watched the Utah Jazz play some playoff games at the Delta Center, and actually stepping onto the same court for their first scrimmage there gave the Utah Starzz players of the new Women's NBA some chills.
"Just practicing on this floor got me fired up," said Wendy Palmer, a 1996 graduate of Virginia who was the Starzz's leading scorer (15 points) in Tuesday evening's closed DC scrimmage against a men's team from the Millcreek rec league made up of former Division I collegians and some other talented players under 6-foot-5. It's organized by former Weber Stater Mike Sivulich. No. 2 scorer for the Starzz was point guard Tammi Reiss, also of Virginia (1992).The men downed the Starzz 115-62 in regulation time, and then they played a 10-minute "overtime" starting with the score 50-50 and ending with the men ahead 72-67.
The Starzz get their first taste of actual WNBA competition Friday at 4 p.m. in the Delta Center when they play the Sacramento Monarchs in their first-ever preseason game. That preseason game will be closed to the public because the new league wants to make a big splash in its season opener (June 21, 7:30 p.m. in the DC vs. Sacramento), said Starzz public relations director Patti Balli. Utah will play at Sacramento Monday in another preseason encounter.
"I think we have a lot of potential," said Starzz coach Denise Taylor after Tuesday's scrimmage. "We played a very good group of young men."
In regulation, the men had the edge in rebounds (40-35), but that changed to a women's advantage (49-47) in the overtime. The men made 49 of 99 shots in regulation, the women 22-53.
The most glaring statistic was turnovers, 44-13 in regulation time. Many of the women's turnovers were for three seconds in the lane, but others from forcing passes against quicker opponents. "We will have to read the situation before we react," Taylor said, adding the team made a halftime adjustment that helped and will have to do more work on it.