NEW YORK — Courtney Vandersloot, Kahleah Copper and Emma Meesseman will get a chance to play in front of their home fans as the trio was selected as reserves for the WNBA All-Star Game on July 10 at Wintrust Arena.
The Chicago Sky stars will join Candace Parker, who was voted in as a starter last week.
Advertisement
Other reserve guards picked Tuesday included the Washington Mystics’ Ariel Atkins, Phoenix Mercury’s Skylar Diggins-Smith, Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale and Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd, a Niles West alumna. Atlanta Dream rookie Rhyne Howard also was picked by the league’s 12 coaches, who voted for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players at either position regardless of conference.
Coaches were not able to vote for their own players.
Advertisement
The Las Vegas Aces’ Dearica Hamby, New York Liberty’s Natasha Howard and Connecticut Sun’s Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas also were chosen in the frontcourt. Jones is the only player to make the All-Star Game this season while coming off the bench.
The Sky’s James Wade will coach one team while the Aces’ Becky Hammon will lead the other. The league announced last week Breanna Stewart and Sylvia Fowles will co-captain one squad and Sue Bird and A’ja Wilson will draft for the other. All four were chosen as starters. Fowles and Bird announced earlier this year they will retire after the season.
The All-Star teams will be drafted Saturday.
Howard, who played with Bird and Stewart in Seattle before coming over to the Liberty, put in a pitch to play with her former guard.
“I would love to play with Sue one more time,” she said after practice Tuesday. “It’s her last All-Star Game.”
[ [Don’t miss] As Brittney Griner’s detention nears 130 days, WNBA fans and activists want action ]
The other starters announced last week were the Los Angeles Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike, the Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, the Sun’s Jonquel Jones and the Aces’ Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young.
The Indiana Fever is the only team without an All-Star.
