Former Scarlet Knights Set to Start WNBA Season
May 20 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, NJ – Former Rutgers University women’s basketball standouts Tammy Sutton-Brown (’01), Chelsea Newton (’05) and Pat Coyle (’82) are set to begin the 2005 WNBA season with games Saturday and Sunday, May 21-22.
Sutton-Brown, a 6-4 center, will begin her fifth season with the Charlotte Sting. A 2002 WNBA All-Star, Sutton-Brown posted 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game last season with the Sting. A second-round selection of the franchise in 2001, she helped lead Charlotte to that summer’s WNBA Finals.
Sutton-Brown averaged 9.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game during her Rutgers career, finishing her time “On the Banks” ranked tied for first in games played (130), third in field-goal percentage (.577), fourth in blocked shots (148), sixth in free throws attempted (494), seventh in free throws made (304), 12th in rebounds (685) and 15th in scoring (1,246). A third-team all-BIG EAST selection and a candidate for the Naismith National Player-of-the-Year Award as a senior, she helped lead the Scarlet Knights to four NCAA Tournament berths, including an Elite Eight finish in 1999 and a Final Four finish in 2000.
Charlotte will open the season at home May 21 against Washington at 6:00 p.m. She will return to the tri-state area Aug. 14 and 25 when the Sting visit Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Liberty.
Newton, a 5-11 guard, is starting her rookie season with the Sacramento Monarchs. The 2005 BIG EAST Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-BIG EAST Third Team, she averaged 9.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 steals for Rutgers as a senior, starting 32 of 33 games and posting 15 double-digit scoring efforts. A selection to the University of the Virgin Islands Paradise Jam All-Tournament Team (Nov. 27-29, 2004), she was named Rutgers’ 2003-2004 Most Valuable Player after averaging 11.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, posting 11 double-digit scoring efforts (two 20+ points). During her four years “On the Banks,” Newton started 95 of 104 games, averaging 9.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.8 steals per contest, posting 51 double-digit scoring games (four 20+ points), two double-digit rebounding games and two double-doubles.
The Monarchs will open the season at Phoenix May 21 at 7:00 p.m. Sacramento will play just once in New York this summer, a June 30th contest against the Liberty.
Coyle is beginning her first full season as the Liberty head coach after taking over the reins midway through the 2004 campaign. Previously an assistant coach with the franchise, she also had stints as the head coach at Loyola (MD) and as an assistant at Miami (FL), Rutgers (1985-89) and Saint Joseph’s.
A member of the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Coyle still ranks among the all-time leaders at RU in scoring (1,209; 18th), assists (394; sixth), free-throw percentage (.796; fifth) and games played (129; tied-third). In her final collegiate contest, Coyle scored 30 points against Texas in the 1982 AIAW Tournament championship game to lead the Lady Knights to the national title while earning MVP honors.
Coyle’s Liberty will begin the season May 22 with a home game against the Detroit Shock at 4:00 p.m.
