Over the weekend I read an article titled: "Five Reasons to Believe Women Will Play in the NBA". While the WNBA has struggled to receive national notoriety, respect and fan support, I will admit it is somewhat encouraging to hear NBA commissioner David Stern give women's basketball players respect saying, "sure, I think that's well within the range of probability," regarding women playing in the NBA. Even Dirk Nowitski weighed-in on the subject stating, "Skills-wise, yeah, but physical-wise, it's tough…" At the same token, however, it baffles me that women's basketball players must constantly be compared to men, the WNBA compared to the NBA. It's almost as if we must be able to compete with the men in order to be validated as professional athletes.

I suppose I take issue with this because in no other sport are women constantly compared to their male counterparts. Allison Felix isn't invalidated because she isn't as fast as Usain Bolt. Serena Williams isn't constantly being compared to Roger Federer. Beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor isn't encouraged to go against Phil Dalhausser in order to see if she's really got the goods. Only in basketball are we constantly compared to men. My question is why? Why can't we just be who we are, the best women's basketball players in the world? 

Our history of playing basketball is as old as the history of basketball itself, and yet, we've had a rocky road claiming our place in the sports landscape. Here's a truncated version of our journey.

And the celebration continues. The President’s Cup was indeed a great accomplishment, and since we won in Ankara, Turkey and not in Mersin, we had a pre-game trophy presentation for the fans and city of Mersin to enjoy. We turned down the lights, dropped confetti and ran in as we were individually announced and given flowers. The fans were amazing and we shared the trophy with them by parading it around the arena for them to touch.

After all of the hoopla, it was time for us to play our first regular season game. We won 78-58 vs. Kocaeli, an Istanbul team that just moved into the 1st Division this season. For game stats click  here.

I am so very proud to announce that last night, 10/21/09, my basketball team, Mersin Buyuksehir Bld. won the President’s Cup for the first time in history beating Fenerbahce 86-74! The President’s Cup is a huge game to start the Turkish Basketball season between the previous season’s 1st and 2nd place teams. Since we made history last year by taking Mersin to the finals for the 1st time, this was also a historic 1st appearance in the President’s Cup.

Upon arrival in Mersin this year, each player was aware of the magnitude of this game. We were swept in the finals last year, and felt as if we had something to prove. Also, Fenerbahce is the proverbial giant in Turkey because of their huge budget, tendency to keep the same core group of players each season and their dominance in the Turkish league year in and year out. We also really wanted to win because we understood that our coach and organization hand picked each of us, including the returning players, as the personnel that would be able to accomplish the huge task of taking down this giant.

I’m excited to be back in Mersin, Turkey playing for Mersin Buyuksehir Belediye Sport Club for another season. Last year, although we fell short of our ultimate dream of winning the Turkish Championship, the organization, city, fans, and the team were overjoyed that we came so close by taking 2nd place. Yes we were pleased with making history for the team, but we definitely weren’t satisfied. At least I wasn’t satisfied. That’s a big reason I’m back. To finish what was started last year, a journey to win it all!

So far, I’ve been here 2 weeks, enough time to get settled-in and to play 4 preseason games. Our team won the Botas Cup in Adana, Turkey, even though we clearly looked like a new team. The Americans on our team are: Barbara Turner, Erlana Larkins, Ivory Latta, Cori Enghusen and myself. Barbara, Cori and I were able to practice together for a week before the Botas tourney, while Erlana only had 1 practice, Ivory, 0. Needless to say, the chemistry wasn’t quite there yet, but the potential has me bubbling over. I know our coach and organization created this team with one thing in mind, winning the Turkish Championship, and I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Personally, I played OK. I was glad that each game was a progression from the last. The first game I had 6 points and 9 rebounds. The 4th and final game I had 19 points and 14 rebounds. The good thing about our team, similar to last year, is that each game, there will be different people leading the charge. This will make us a tough match for many teams.

We’ll host a Mersin tournament on Oct. 12th-16th. Another opportunity to flex our skills against different opponents. I’m looking forward to it, just like I look forward to practice everyday (except the 12 minute warm-up run LOL), because it’s another opportunity for us to grow into the team we are here to become.

Better late than never, I always say, so here’s the extremely late season-end wrap-up for my 2009 overseas professional basketball season I played in Mersin, Turkey.

If you’ve been following along, you probably already know that we went to the finals of the Turkish Championship against Fenerbahce, the team that has dominated the Turkish league over the last few years. Unfortunately, we were swept in a best of 5 series. The first two games were horrendous, the last game, not so much.

My team, Mersin Buyuksehir, was victorious today in a fight to the finish. We won 81-78 in a battle that went down to the wire. Our team was left with a bad taste in our mouths after losing the last game at home, to put Samsun up 2-1. Our resolve was very strong and we found a way, together, to get it done. It was a physical game of runs, changes of defenses, and crucial plays down the stretch. We understand though, that the battle has only just begun. We travel to Samsun tomorrow, in preparation of a very tough game 5 on Wednesday. We consider the series to now be 0-0. The winner advances to the Turkish Championship Finals for a ‘best of 7’ series.