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Heron head coach begins WNBA Finals tonight
September 14 , 2005
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Heron Basketball Coach Olympia Scott
will be a little late arriving on campus
as her Sacramento Monarchs play in
their first WNBA Finals. |
GENEVA, N.Y.—William Smith Basketball Head Coach Olympia Scott will be late arriving on campus this year. The Herons’ second-year boss will be spending a little more time at her other job as a center for the Sacramento Monarchs in the WNBA Finals.
Scott’s Western Conference Champion Monarchs are making their first Finals appearance in franchise history. The best-of-five series tips off tonight at the Eastern Conference Champion Connecticut Sun. Game 1 is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. and will air live on ESPN2.
Game 2 also will tipoff at 8 p.m. tomorrow on ESPN2 in Connecticut. The series will shift to Sacramento for Game 3, on Sept. 18, a 4 p.m. start on ABC. Game 4, if necessary, will be on Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. on ESPN2, with Game 5 back in Connecticut on Sept. 22, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
Scott, who was traded from Charlotte to Sacramento prior to the start of this season, is averaging 2.1 ppg and 1.8 rpg off the bench for the Monarchs.
Sacramento reached the WNBA Finals by sweeping the Houston Comets in the conference championship series 2-0. Coincidentally, the Comets’ roster includes Dawn Staley, the head coach at Temple University. Scott and Staley, the only active WNBA players to also serve as head coach of a college team, were teammates during the 2004 season in Charlotte.
In her first season as head coach of the Herons, Scott led William Smith to the Liberty League regular season and tournament championships, an appearance in the NCAA regional semifinals, and the program’s first 20-win season (20-8) since 1999-2000.
William Smith returns 10 letterwinners, including four starters. The team’s top three scorers all return, including 2005 Liberty League Rookie of the Year Marisa Vespa (Immaculate Heart/Watertown, N.Y.), who led the team with 11.5 ppg and a William Smith first-year record 142 assists.