Husky Woman Land an Inner-City Hoopster (Finally)

A transaction that probably slipped your notice signals a potential return to the glory days of Husky women's basketball.

One of the major criticisms of the June Daugherty era at UW, at least by me, was her failure to attract any of the fantastically talented players from one of Seattle's inner-city (ok, let's just say it: "predominately Black") high school basketball programs.

Sealth's Shiela Lambert went to Baylor, (and, later, to the WNBA), Garfield's Malia O'Neal went to Arizona, Regina Rogers and Christina Nzekwe of Sealth went to UCLA.

It was annoying because some of Chris Gobrecht's best players during her tenure at Washington were local: Tara Davis, from Rainier Beach, and Rhonda Smith from Franklin, both of whom went on to play for the Seattle Reign.

It was further annoying because a sport like women's basketball is extremely local. It's a tight community that will rally around Seattle athletes more than it will around players brought in from foreign countries.

Back when Gobrecht was winning, the women's team outdrew the men (and, in at least one three-point contest I saw, outshot them as well). Daugherty's teams were (mostly) successful, but didn't draw well. Part of the problem was Daugherty's run and gun offense. (I had a friend who'd get mad whenever I described it that way, he said it didn't deserve to be called an "offense.")

So, it is with much hope for the future that I point out Tia Jackson's signing of Sealth's Charmaine Barlow.

I'm a pretty casual fan of the women's team--despite several free ticket offers, I don't think I've been to a game in three years--but the chance to see local players is one thing that's likely to draw me back in.