LOS ANGELES – Former Scarlet Knight Essence Carson and her Los Angeles Sparks begin the WNBA title defense on Sunday in the league finals with the Minnesota Lynx.

Game one in the best of five series tips off at 3:30 p.m. (ET) on ABC on Sunday at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Los Angeles, which won the title in the final seconds of a decisive Game 5 last season, will try to repeat as WNBA champions, something that has happened only three times in the league's 20-year history.

Carson and the Sparks captured the 2016 WNBA title in the fifth and deciding game of the finals. Carson became the fourth Scarlet Knight to hoist the championship trophy.

Carson, one of 19 Scarlet Knights to be drafted by the WNBA and one of eight former Rutgers student-athletes on a WNBA roster this season, is in her second season with the Los Angeles Sparks. She was a first round selection with the seventh pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the New York Liberty. 

During last year's finals, Carson averaged 6.0 points and 2.4 rebounds per game against the defending champion Minnesota Lynx. 

A three-time BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Carson collected 1,262 points and 707 rebounds while "On The Banks" having appeared in 133 contests as a Scarlet Knight.

In all, Scarlet Knights have won five WNBA championships. In addition to Carson's 2016 title, other Scarlet Knights to win the championship include Chelsea Newton (Sacramento - 2005), Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix - 2007 & 2009) and Tammy Sutton-Brown (Indiana - 2012).
 
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