Future’s Not Too Cloudy Despite Missing Playoffs, Reign’s Season Has Positive Signs

Losing teams always have next year to look forward to. Such is the case now with the Seattle Reign.

The American Basketball League team was expected to have a strong season with the addition of rookies Kate Starbird, the 1997 Naismith Award winner and Tacoma native, and All-American Shalonda Enis.

Things didn’t quite go as planned.

The Reign finished a disappointing season Tuesday night at Mercer Arena, beating Western Conference champion Portland 82-79, ending an 11-game losing streak to the Power.

Despite ending the season with a win, their ninth in 17 games, the Reign finished out of the playoffs for the second straight year, and have the worst two-year record in the ABL.

The team finished with a 15-29 record, in the basement of the Western Conference. Only the Richmond Rage of the Eastern Conference finished with a worse record at 13-31. Last season the Reign finished 17-23.

Turnovers hurt the Reign. They led the league with 901.

On the positive side, the Reign fared better on their home court, where they were 10-12, than on the road, where they were 5-17. And they only lost by an average per game of 78.3 points to 74; they outscored opponents in the fourth quarter, 948-907.

Individually the Reign fared well. Rookie Enis led the team in scoring at 18 points per game and rebounding at 7.6. She was selected for the league All-Star game, and was named the game’s MVP. Val Whiting led the team in blocks at 32 and in steals with 94. Former Stanford teammates also were team leaders: Starbird led the team in minutes played with 1,495 and two-year veteran Kate Paye dished out 145 assists.

League-wide, Seattle players also fared well, particularly Enis.

Enis finished fifth in the league in scoring, seventh in rebounding, and sixth in three-point field goal percentage. Whiting also did well, placing eighth in scoring (15.4 ppg) and rebounding (8 rpg), ninth in blocked shots and fifth in steals, averaging 2.2 per game.

Tammy Holder signed a one-year deal as head coach 90 minutes before the final game. She had been serving as interim coach since the firing of Jacquie Hullah last Dec. 9. The Reign will retain Nancy Wilson as assistant coach.

Holder, a Richmond, Va., native, was director of basketball operations for the Richmond Rage before taking over the team. Before that she was a head coach on the collegiate level at the University of Richmond (71-67) for five years and South CarolinaSpartanburg (50-33) for three years.

Karen Bryant was named general manager just before the final game, replacing Jim Weyermann, who resigned to become ABL vice president of basketball operations.

Bryant has been assistant general manager of the Reign. She played for the University of Washington and Seattle University. She also helped Edmonds-Woodway High School win the 1985 Class AA girls state championship.

Holder, 39, looks forward to next season after coaching the team to a 9-13 record.

“We’re capable of great things,” she said. “We just have to do those things consistently for 40 minutes.”

The Reign were the youngest team in the league, with an average age of 24, had the least professional experience of any team, and started two rookies.