May 14, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas -- Former Texas Women's Basketball greats Tiffany Jackson and Brittainey Raven will again take to the court this weekend as the 2010 WNBA season tips off. This is the 14th year of play in the WNBA which was founded in 1997.
Jackson, a 6-3 power forward, enters her fourth year with the New York Liberty. Jackson claimed National Freshman of the Year honors at UT and All-America plaudits in her next three years at Texas. The All-Big 12 Conference standout starred at Texas from 2003-07.
Raven joins Jackson as the current Longhorn duo in the WNBA for the 2010 season, as Jackson carried the torch solo last season when Jamie Carey announced her retirement prior to the start of the 2009 campaign. There is an impressive lineage of Texas Exes past and present in the WNBA, as Texas Basketball has produced 16 players and two head coaches who have been members of the WNBA professional league since 1997. During her 'junior' season in the league last year, Jackson appeared in 34 games with a career-high nine starts. She earned her first career start on July 30 against Washington. Jackson scored in double figures five times and collected five or more boards in 12 games.
Raven, the No. 33 pick by the Atlanta Dream in the third round of the 2010 WNBA Draft, became the ninth player in UT Women's Basketball history to be drafted in the WNBA. A three-time All-Big 12 Second Team honoree, Raven led the Longhorns in scoring the past three seasons. She contributed 1,698 points in her four-year career as a starting guard, a mark that stands as the 12th-best scoring total in school history. Raven's 133 games played tied her for the seventh-most in UT's annals, while her 384 career free throws made rank fifth all-time and her 124 career 3-pointers rank seventh. She averaged 14.6 ppg for Texas last season and also contributed 4.9 rpg and 2.6 apg.
In the Dream's pre-season contests again the Connecticut Sun (May 4) and Washington Mystics (May 9), Raven combined for 17 points and four rebounds in over 45 minutes of action.
The 2010 WNBA regular season opens Saturday, May 15, with five games (see schedule below). Raven and the Dream will tip off the regular season in San Antonio on Saturday night at 7 p.m. Central, while Jackson and the Liberty will open the season against Chicago at 3 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 16.
2010 WNBA Opening Weekend Schedule
(all times Central)
Saturday, May 15
Los Angeles at Phoenix, 1 p.m. (ESPN2)
Chicago at Connecticut, 2:30 p.m.
Washington at Indiana, 6 p.m.
Atlanta at San Antonio, 7 p.m. (FSN SW)
Minnesota at Tulsa, 7 p.m.
Sunday, May 16
Chicago at New York, 3 p.m.
Washington at Minnesota, 6 p.m.
Indiana at Atlanta, 6 p.m.
Los Angeles at Seattle, 8 p.m.
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