2011 WNBA Season
Newark, NJ ““ June 26, 2011 “” Los Angeles Sparks forward Candace Parker sits alone inside the New York Liberty’s locker room, her eyes red and face painted with dried tears.
Three letters run through Parker’s mind ““ A, C, and L.
The Sparks were off to a promising start to the 2011 season (4-2 at the time) and were in Newark taking on the Liberty. With just under six minutes left in the third quarter, Parker already amassed her third consecutive double-double (her fourth in the team’s first seven games) with 16 points and 11 rebounds. After grabbing a defensive board, Parker inadvertently collided with the Liberty’s Quanitra Hollingsworth and went down in excruciating pain.
A, C, and L”¦
Parker can’t help but flashback to high school where she tore the ACL in her left knee or to college when she first dislocated her shoulder. How long would the process back to recovery be this time?
Sitting by herself in a cold, dark locker room in Newark, Parker feared the worst.
Then, her two-year-old daughter, Lailaa, enters.
“Mommy hurt?” she asks with a concerned look on her face. Lailaa has never seen mom upset before.
“Yeah, baby, mommy’s hurt,” Parker responds, doing her best to stay strong and reassure her daughter.
Lailaa, sensing her mom’s pain, places her arms around mom and holds her just like Candace does when she’s hurt.
“Amen,” Lailaa says while delicately placing her hand on Parker’s right knee after saying a prayer for mommy.
It was that moment when Parker knew everything would be alright, and she’d make sure of it.
Again.
Category : Blog
Rookie center Liz Cambage of the Tulsa Shock has been named as a replacement player for the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game presented by adidas, league President Laurel J. Richie announced today. Cambage will take the roster spot of Los Angeles Sparks center Candace Parker on the Western Conference roster. Parker, who was voted to the game as a starter by fans, suffered a knee injury at New York on June 26 and is expected to be out of action until August.
The 2011 WNBA All-Star Game presented by adidas will be nationally broadcast on ABC, Saturday, July 23, at 3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. CT). This will be the first time the San Antonio Silver Stars are hosting the midseason showcase.
The second overall selection in the 2011 WNBA Draft presented by adidas, Cambage is one of a record 11 players, four starters and seven reserves, making their first All-Star appearances, the most since 2000 when nine were selected. The 6-8, 19-year-old native of Australia becomes the fourth member of this year’s rookie class to be selected to an All-Star roster. Cambage joins starter Maya Moore of Minnesota, and a pair of reserves, San Antonio forward Danielle Adams and Chicago guard Courtney Vandersloot, as first-year players appearing in the All-Star Game. This marks the most rookies named to All-Star rosters since 2006, when Seimone Augustus, Cappie Pondexter, Sophia Young, and Candice Dupree were selected.
Having played in 14 games, Cambage ranks second among Shock players in scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounds (5.3 rpg), with statistics based on games played through Tuesday, July 19. Among all rookies, she ranks first in rebounding and blocks (1.2 bpg), and third in scoring and steals (1.3 spg).
Seattle Head Coach Brian Agler will coach the Western Conference squad by virtue of the Storm having won the 2010 WNBA championship. Atlanta Dream Head Coach Marynell Meadors, who led her club to the Eastern Conference title last season, will lead the Eastern Conference team.
As coach of the West squad, Agler will select a player from his roster to insert into the starting lineup in place of Parker.
Category : Blog
Good story from Tulsa World on Elizabeth Cambage and her interest in fashion:
Elizabeth Cambage might be a smidgen superstitious.
“Thirteen is an unlucky number,” she said, moving down one more to seat 12 on a row inside the empty BOK Center.
“These don’t have much leg room,” she noticed, smiling as she tucked her 6-foot-8 frame into the seat before swinging her feet over to the seat beside her. “If I came to a game, I’d be struggling.”
A couple of hours before, she had been on the court, practicing with her Tulsa Shock teammates. But now, she was in a box seat wearing Australian designer clothes and makeup, fielding questions she hasn’t been used to answering – at least not yet in Tulsa.
Perhaps because she’s the youngest – 19, with a birthday coming up next month – and tallest player on the team, Cambage is an identifiable fashion plate. We first spied her out of uniform while she was sidelined by an injury a couple of weeks before, with ESPN’s cameras frequently panning to her. Looked like she was wearing a smart suit; but it was a sports channel, not the Style network, so quick takes and people in the way made surmising a harder task.
The day we arrived at the BOK to meet her in person to talk about her style, we waited a few minutes on the court. We were told she had her own outfits to model.
And did she ever, the first being a fabulous piece by Australian design duo sass & bide. Created by Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, sass & bide might ring a bell with “Sex and the City” fans, as Sarah Jessica Parker’s character wore it. So have Beyonce and Madonna.
None of them have probably donned it quite as statuesquely as Cambage, though, her smile brightened with a fuchsia-hued lip color, her hair down, padding toward us in black ballet flats by Barefoot Tess.
Category : Blog
LOS ANGELES ““ An MRI on Monday revealed that Los Angeles Sparks post player Candace Parker has torn the lateral meniscus in her right knee and will be sidelined for approximately six weeks.
Parker suffered the injury during the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the New York Liberty in Newark, N.J. With 5:56 remaining in period, Parker went down after grabbing a defensive rebound and then briefly making contact with the Liberty’s Quanitra Hollingsworth. The Naperville, Ill., native did not return to the contest.
“We look forward to Candace making a full recovery,” Sparks Vice President and General Manager Penny Toler said.
“I appreciate all of the kind thoughts and prayers that have come my way in the last 24 hours. They have truly helped,” Parker said. “I look forward to picking up where I left off and contending for a WNBA championship,”
Prior to her injury, Parker averaged 17.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists through seven games, recording four double-doubles. She began the 2011 campaign fully healthy after missing 34 regular season games over the past two seasons due to injury and pregnancy. In 2008 Parker became the first player in league history to capture both MVP and Rookie of the Year honors.
Los Angeles (4-3) continues its current seven-game road trip Tuesday at the Connecticut Sun (4-3). The nationally-televised game on ESPN2 is scheduled for a 5 p.m. PT tip-off.
Category : Blog
