ABL Gets a Big Jump on WNBA

When the NBA announced a year ago that it would form a women’s league, many wondered what would become of the rival and upstart American Basketball League.

Now, after the ABL’s announcement Friday that it had signed yet another group of prominent seniors, some were left wondering which league is the upstart.

During a break in the ABL’s three-day workout for 80 players, the league announced the signings of Beth Morgan of Notre Dame, Kedra Holland-Corn of Georgia, and LaTicia Morris of Auburn.

Earlier in the week, the league had announced the signings of Olympian Katrina McClain, Stanford Naismith Award winner Kate Starbird and Alabama All-American Shalonda Enis.

Also signed by the ABL on Friday was Yolanda Griffith, a 6-foot-4 post player from Florida Atlantic who has played professionally in Europe the last three seasons.

USC’s Tina Thompson, Connecticut’s Kara Wolters and Old Dominion’s Clarise Machanguana are pondering WNBA and ABL offers.

Thompson’s ABL signing would mean that the league’s expansion Long Beach team, which has the first draft choice May 5, would choose her. A WNBA signing, presumably, would put her on the Lakers’ WNBA team, the Sparks. The WNBA will draft Monday.

If Thompson winds up at Long Beach, she could be playing for Linda Hargrove, that team’s leading coaching candidate. Hargrove, 47, just finished her eighth season at Wichita State. She has a 416-234 record.