Newton to Play for WNBA Title
Sep 11 | Women's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, NJ – Former Rutgers Scarlet Knight Chelsea Newton (’05) and her Sacramento Monarch teammates will take on the Connecticut Sun for the WNBA title.
Sacramento, the Western Conference regular-season champion, swept the Los Angeles Sparks 2-0 in the first round and the Houston Comets 2-0 in the Western Conference Finals. Newton started all four games, averaging 7.3 points and 1.5 rebounds per contest.
The Monarchs will play the Sun in a best-of-five series for the league title. Games 1 (Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2) and 2 (Thursday, Sept. 15, at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2) will be played in Connecticut, followed by Game 3 (Sunday, Sept. 18, at 4:00 p.m. ET on ABC) and, if necessary, Game 4 (Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2) in Sacramento. Game 5 would be held in Connecticut Thursday, Sept. 22, at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2). A free audio stream of the radio broadcast is available for each game via wnba.com.
Newton, a second-round selection of the Monarchs in the 2005 WNBA Draft, was one of two rookies to start every regular-season game (Temeka Johnson, Washington). Newton averaged 4.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 21.0 minutes per game during the regular season, and has been used as a defensive stopper, often drawing the toughest assignment on the perimeter. In fact, the 5-11 rookie guard missed a spot on the 2005 WNBA All-Defensive Second Team by just one point.
The 2005 BIG EAST Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-BIG EAST Third Team, Newton 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.
