Connecticut Sun coach Stephanie White named WNBA Coach of the Year
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/09/2023 (1099 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Stephanie White was honored as the WNBA’s Coach of the Year on Sunday after guiding the Connecticut Sun to a 27-win season and a No. 3 seed in the playoffs.
White, the former Indiana Fever and Vanderbilt coach, took over a team that made it to last years Finals before coach Curt Miller left for Los Angeles and star player Jonquel Jones, a former MVP was traded to New York and point guard Jasmine Thomas left to join her former coach out west.
The team also had to deal with a season-ending injury to key player Brionna Jones a month into the season.
White received 36 votes from a national panel of 60 sportswriters and broadcasters. Latricia Trammell of the Dallas Wings finished in second place with 11 votes, and Sandy Brondello of the New York Liberty was third with six votes. Becky Hammon of the Las Vegas Aces received three votes; Cheryl Reeve of the Minnesota Lynx and Tanisha Wright of the Atlanta Dream each received two votes.
White put in an offense that went through 6-foot-2 veteran forward Alyssa Thomas, who responded by becoming the first player in WNBA history to record more than 600 points, 300 rebounds and 300 assists in one season, putting up a league-record six triple-doubles.
“I think she’s brought in a new energy for us,” Thomas said of White. “Of course a new offense that has allowed both of us (Thomas and DeWanna Bonner) to thrive offensively. I think, everyone has talked all season long about what we lost in coaches, players. But the team has balled out and found a way to win with this group that we have.”
White said she never considered it a rebuilding year for the Sun, who have had three different people win the league’s highest coaching award as she joined Miller and Mike Thibault.
“I think that we’re a group that knows that we have really good pieces, a good core, an experienced core, who has won a lot of games, been to championships as well,” said White, who also was the AP Coach of the Year. “The noise outside the locker room was talking about it being rebuilding, but our expectation was to compete.”
The Sun are on the verge of returning to the WNBA semifinals for a sixth consecutive season. To get there the team will have to win in Minnesota as the Lynx tied the best-of-3 series 1-1 on Sunday.
“I think to lose such an important piece like Brionna Jones and have to adjust pretty dramatically…I think Steph has done an incredible job,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball