|
NCAA scoring champ Stiles contributes quickly with Fire
By David Woods, Indianapolis Star, 6/27/01 In April's WNBA draft, the Indiana Fever were faced with a decision analogous to the one confronted by the Indianapolis Colts in 1998. Not a day passes in which the Colts aren't relieved they selected quarterback Peyton Manning instead of Ryan Leaf with the No. 1 pick. However, it will be months before anyone can evaluate whether the Fever were wise to select Tamika Catchings instead of Jackie Stiles with the No. 3 pick. Taking Stiles at No. 4 were the Portland Fire, who will face the revived Fever tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse. Busloads of Stiles fans are expected to make the trip from Springfield, Mo., where she became the NCAA's career scoring leader for Southwest Missouri State. Stiles, a 5-8 guard, is 16th in the WNBA in scoring (14.8) after scoring 22 points in a 61-57 loss to Cleveland on Tuesday. Catchings is still recovering from January knee surgery. If Catchings hadn't been hurt, according to Fever coach Nell Fortner, the 6-1 forward from Tennessee would have gone No. 1 in the draft to Seattle. Instead, the Storm chose 6-5 Australian Lauren Jackson, who leads WNBA rookies in scoring (15.6). Indiana is closest to the Midwest roots of Stiles, a native of Claflin, Kan. (pop. 616). "I didn't know anything about the teams and the personnel and the coaching staffs to know where I fit best,' Stiles said before Tuesday's game. "I was just hoping some team would draft me, any team. I just wanted to play so bad in the WNBA.' Catchings is a potential star for a franchise that lacks a legitimate All-Star candidate. The Fever needed a small forward and selected her because she was the best one available, Fortner said. The Fever have vowed not to rush Catchings into action, even if that means waiting for the 2002 season. Yet Fortner conceded that any team would like to have Stiles, who is performing just as she was projected. "I thought her run through the NCAA playoffs put her up against some tremendous defenders, and she proved she could score against them,' said Fortner, who was an analyst for ESPN's coverage. "I thought she really proved herself during the tournament.' Easing Stiles' transition to the pros has been the Kansas roots she shares with Fire coach Linda Hargrove, a former Wichita State coach who recruited Stiles. One of the things Hargrove has had to do is curtail Stiles' extra practice so the rookie doesn't become weary during Portland's current stretch of five road games in nine days. As a teen-ager, Stiles did 5 a.m. weightlifting workouts and made 1,000 shots a day. "The travel is a lot more difficult, more strenuous,' she said. "One day you're in Sacramento, the next day in Los Angeles. Nothing can prepare you for this until you actually go through it.' Off-court changes include the breaking off of her engagement and the signing of an endorsement deal with Nike, whose headquarters are in Beaverton, Ore. Teammates teased her because she recently received a facial cut shaped like Nike's trademark swoosh. Stiles once asked Fortner, the coach of the 2000 Olympic gold medalists, what it would take to make an Olympic team. Keep it up, Fortner would reply. "She's brought a name with her to the league, and she's at a place where they need her to score,' Fortner said. "In another system, on a veteran team, she'd be that player on the bench and getting five minutes.' Stiles has a veteran backcourt partner in 31-year-old Sophia Witherspoon, who averages 15.7 points per game. TO THE TOP |