As might be expected from a team that has such a shining future after finally learning how to be a playoff team, the Utah Starzz said their goodbyes Tuesday morning, most with the thought that they will be back in Salt Lake City next summer.
But, with the knowledge that Marie Ferdinand had taken her starting job the second half of the season and seems poised for WNBA stardom, guard Korie Hlede said she'll have to weigh her options for next season. Asked what that might mean, she said, "Trade. I'm looking at that real hard."
Then she was called into her end-of-season meeting with coaches Candi Harvey and Tammi Reiss, about whom she'd had only good things to say, and she left the building without further explanation.
Harvey said the trade subject never came up in their talk, and she didn't seem worried that Hlede would press the issue. "We talked about next year. Korie left here feeling good about it, and we fully expect her back," Harvey said. "We'll expect her back in training camp next year."
Harvey also plans to be back. Her contract negotiations with the front office start Thursday.
Hlede, who lost her starting job after spraining an ankle June 27, was then part of a three-guard rotation with Ferdinand and point guard Jennifer Azzi, though her minutes were limited as she played backup at both point and shooting positions. "Korie was put in a difficult situation," Harvey said.
Hlede is off to Croatia, where she will play with her national team in the Mediterranean Games and then play for a pro team in Spain.
"This year was great," she said of the campaign that ended Sunday in Sacramento when the Starzz lost Game 2 of their first-ever attempt at the playoffs. 71-66. They lost Game 1 at the Delta Center Friday, 89-65.
The Starzz thought they outplayed the Monarchs Sunday but lost because of a record-setting number of fouls called against them — 18 personals and two technicals in the final 16 minutes after they'd led by 11 points.
Hlede said she felt like the Starzz came together as a true family this season. "I cannot give enough credit to Candi and to Tammi, who is one of the best assistant coaches. She is unbelievable," Hlede said. "I have been with a lot of coaches, but this girl knows her stuff," she said.
The Starzz finished 19-13 in the regular season, the best they've been in five seasons of trying. Their playoff debut was 0-2, but players and coaches said they learned to function in the postseason and will be ready next year.
"It's a whole different level," said forward LaTonya Johnson. "Very exciting."
""I love that atmosphere. I love that environment," said Utah's Utah resident and Olympian Natalie Williams. "But as a team, it was a new experience. We learned some things, and we have a lot of drive, a lot of fire, for next year. We'll be back stronger next year, physically and mentally.
"I'm not happy with the way the last game ended, but it's over," Williams added.
Azzi hasn't quite accepted the final loss, either. "It was a great season, as it was, but ending with a loss like that is kind of hard. It will take awhile for it to settle in before I can celebrate how great this season was," she said. She expects to become more local. She lives in the Bay Area but said, "I think I will be around more; I'm working out some things with the team."
Forward Adrienne Goodson was pretty much past the last loss. She had 31 points and 16 rebounds in the two playoff games. "I think (the season) ended fantastic," she said, including the Starzz's second-half surge. "Five weeks ago if you had asked me, I would have looked at you like, 'Whoa.'" But a 14-win, five-loss six-week streak to make the playoffs changed her mind.
Ferdinand said she learned "to be mentally tough and be patient with the coaching staff," and she expects to come back to an improved 2002 team. "I think we'll be even better," she said. "We made the playoffs, and a lot of people didn't expect us to."
"Just like everyone else," said guard Cara Consuegra, no longer a rookie, "I am so excited for next year. It will be fun to be a part of it."
Margo Dydek is "still hungry" for more playoffs and has a plan already hatched for next season.
She said that, after the 2000 season, when many people said she didn't play well for the Starzz because she was saving herself for the Polish team's Olympic effort, she determined to talk for herself in 2001. "It was not right. I wanted the playoffs," she said of 2000.
This summer, she talked of her playoff goal, and it was achieved. Next year, she'll talk about the refereeing, and how she would like to be treated like just another player instead of a person much taller than the others, who get calls against her because they're smaller. "It worked this year, so it's going to work next year," she said, amused by her can't-miss tactic. "I will just be out-loud about it."
As for the Starzz, Dydek says she plans to be back and wants to keep "the heart of the team together. I hope everyone is going to come back. We've got some goals."
E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com