They came from all over the country, converging in Chantilly for a three-hour audition, all with hopes of snagging a prized roster spot at a WNBA training camp.
Many of the 45 or so players at the Washington Mystics’ invitation-only tryout at Hoops Magic on Tuesday hailed from the biggest conferences and best teams in NCAA Division I women’s college basketball, from North Carolina to Texas.
But there were also two from Trinity University, the tiny, 575-student Division III women’s school in Northeast with one of the least recognized athletic programs in the Washington area.
Lauren Hall and Lauren McClain were the first two Tigers ever to be invited to such a tryout.
“It feels pretty good,” said Hall. “Everybody at the school, even people I haven’t met, has been comingup to me and congratulating me.”
“Sometimes you don’t get looked at as much if you’re from a small school. This was a good opportunity for them and for us to evaluate them,” said Mystics general manager Linda Hargrove. “This is a tough forum to really stand out, but I thought they held their own. They did fine.”
Hall, a 5-foot-8 guard who has averaged more than 16 points per game for three years and was an All-Atlantic Women’s College Conference first-team selection this season, made a couple of 15-foot jumpers but never quite found a fit for her all-around game.
“Some of these guards are a lot faster,” said Hall. “[The most difficult thing was] trying to pick up my speed on defense.”
McClain, a 6-1 forward who finished her college eligibility last year, received her invitation the night before, and her sound fundamentals masked her lack of fitness.
“I felt like I was in shape for the first hour or so. I’m not going to lie,” said McClain. “All you can do with this type of thing is go out there and show what you can do and leave it at that.”
It’s highly unlikely that Hall or McClain make the team, but the tryout was neither the beginning nor the end for either player. Tigers head coach Gary Blake is helping explore overseas options for both players.
“Going in, we just wanted to use it as a stepping-stone,” said Blake. “It would be great if it happened, but if it didn’t, nothing hurt. Because there are so many players on the same level, the same position and want the same thing, it’s just so difficult. You’re at the mercy of the folks making the selection.”
Hoop dreams
» Trinity finished the 2006-07 season with an 11-13 overall record. The Tigers lost in the Atlantic Women’s College Conference final to the College of Notre Dame, 62-61.
» In his first year as head coach and third overall with Trinity, head coach Gary Blake was named AWCC coach of the year.
