Little milestones mark the passage of time during the dull days of preseason training camp. Getting new uniforms is one of the best milestones.
Saturday at Westminster College, the new Utah Starzz of the Women's National Basketball Association spent three hours practicing while their new uniforms were unpacked and put on the bleacher seats for the players to try on following the workout."It's usually an exciting thing to put the silks on," said assistant coach Greg Williams, noting that wearing uniforms of a new league is added pleasure.
"They are some very good-looking uniforms," said head coach Denise Taylor after using up every minute of the practice clock and picking a player who had to sink two free throws before the team could end the workout and try on the new duds. "The WNBA did an outstanding job," Taylor said of the league-designed outfits.
Saturday, Taylor spent time on conditioning and running/passing drills and then installed a zone defense in what was the team's 15th or 16th practice session since the opening of camp May 28. The offense has already been learned. Special plays like inbounds passes are pending before the season opener at 7:30 p.m. in the Delta Center on June 23 vs. the Sacramento Monarchs.
The Starzz have finished 2-a-days and are into three-hour sessions now. They'll hold a closed scrimmage Tuesday night at the Delta Center, the next mile-marker en route to the WNBA liftoff. "Every day we try to get something new in and get it refined," Taylor says. She claims one of the league's younger clubs with four players straight out of college. She'll have to cut two of the 12 on the practice squad, and the club probably won't have 6-foot-5 Elena Baranova of the Russian National Team until a day or so before tipoff.
Saturday's practice was rough on the roster. Orem native Raegan Scott landed hard and hyperextended her left knee and was sent to a medical clinic for evaluation (probably a not-too-serious sprain), several players limped with muscle pulls or cramps and latest-signee Darla Simpson, a veteran of numerous international teams from the University of Houston, went for a loose ball and piled herself and Williams into the bleachers where the folded-up uniforms were waiting. Later, she took a hard shoulder under the chin.