If not for a brief encounter with current teammate Staci Carney at a Michigan Avenue store this past fall, Tamika Catchings might not be back in Chicago as part of the Blaze, a fledgling National Women’s Basketball League franchise.
Following the requisite exchange of pleasantries Carney impressed upon Catchings the benefits of joining the start-up organization. The recruiting pitch really was aimed at her sister, Tauja Catchings, a former standout at Illinois.
“I asked Staci, `What about me?'” Tamika said with a laugh. “Staci said, `Oh, yeah. We definitely want you too.'”
Tauja Catchings opted to play overseas in Sweden, but Tamika has been quite the consolation prize for the Blaze, which brings a 5-0 record into Thursday night’s game with the Sheryl Swoopes and the Houston Stealth (1-2) at DePaul University’s Student Center.
Thirteen months after a torn anterior cruciate ligament ended her All-America career at Tennessee, the 6-foot-2-inch forward is averaging 22 points on 51 percent shooting, 9.3 rebounds and 6.3 steals. She has made 61 percent of her three-pointers.
“I’ve seen Tamika play on television, but she’s much more impressive in person,” said Blaze teammate E.C. Hill, a former star at Whitney Young High School. “She can do it all and is especially tough defensively.”
Catchings was hurt in a game against Mississippi State on Martin Luther King Day 2001. Despite the severity of her knee injury, she was the third pick in last spring’s WNBA draft, going to the Indiana Fever. She was running six months after her ACL injury, only to sustain cartilage damage in the same knee, which necessitated arthroscopic surgery and another rehabilitation.
“You see daily progress early on but after that it’s weekly, then it becomes month to month and it’s easy to get upset and harder to stay motivated,” she said. “But I was determined to stay with it.”
Though she was the Blaze’s second pick in the NWBL draft, Catchings didn’t know much about the league, which was formed as an in-season alternative to women’s pro leagues overseas. WNBA standouts Rebecca Lobo, Kara Wolters and Rita Williams are using the NWBL to stay sharp between WNBA seasons, as is Swoopes, who missed last season with a torn ACL.
A previous WNBA commitment that had her mingling with Chris Webber and Shane Battier at the NBA All-Star Game caused Catchings to miss the Blaze’s 82-77 opening victory over the Kansas City Legacy at DePaul.
Catchings grew accustomed to sellout crowds at Tennessee, but women’s basketball has a dismal history in Chicago. The Condors of the American Basketball League folded in their first season, and the Bulls abandoned plans to seek a WNBA expansion team last year when ticket applications fell far short of their goal.
But Catchings believes the game can thrive in Chicago. In fact, she hopes to put her sports management degree to use by running a women’s team.
“She understands what it takes to win and brings an energy level a lot of players aren’t used to,” Blaze general manager Robert Graham said. “Tamika is a tremendous professional.”
