Holdsclaw, Griffith: No Peers

Leon Barmore, Louisiana Tech’s coach, has seen enough.

So have I.

After his second-ranked Techsters were beaten by No. 1 Tennessee and Chamique Holdsclaw the other day, Barmore paid Holdsclaw the ultimate tribute.

“She’s the best who ever played this game,” he said, meaning the college game.

And this writer, after watching Yolanda Griffith’s fourth-quarter performance for the Long Beach StingRays at San Jose Saturday night, has come to this conclusion: In the women’s pro game--sorry, Lisa Leslie--Griffith is the best.

Barmore, who until last week had called USC’s Cheryl Miller the

college game’s best ever, said this of the 6-foot-2 Holdsclaw, a junior:

“You put her on 10 or 12 other teams in the country right now and they’d win the national championship.

“Miller had the best game I ever saw until now, but I think Holdsclaw is a little stronger and has her game more under control than Cheryl did. And she’s more into the defensive side of the game than she was a year ago.”

Griffith, the 6-4 scorer-rebounder from Chicago who spent four seasons in the German pro league, personified the term “unstoppable” Saturday.

Held in check for three quarters in a game Long Beach seemed certain to lose, Griffith outscored San Jose, 9-2, personally nailing down an 82-76 victory.

FEELING A DRAFT

To stock the WNBA’s Washington and Detroit expansion teams, each of the other teams must surrender players for an expansion draft, date to be determined. The league hasn’t announced how many players each team can protect but the most frequently heard number is six.

A Spark source said the team’s protected list looks like this: Leslie, Haixia Zheng, Jamila Wideman, Katrina Colleton, Mwadi Mabika and Tamecka Dixon.

If that list holds, sometime starters Linda Burgess and Penny Toler will be unprotected, along with reserves Daedra Charles and Heidi Burge.

Protecting Leslie, Colleton, Mabika and Dixon is smart.

But not protecting Toler, a point guard who can score, would be a surprise. And so would protecting Zheng and Wideman.

The 6-8 Zheng is overpowering in the low post--when officials aren’t calling her for offensive fouls. But she’s a huge defensive liability who surrenders as many points as she scores.

In addition, the China Basketball Federation hasn’t informed the WNBA or the Sparks if Zheng will be given permission to play a second U.S. season.

Wideman is a major public relations asset for the club. She leads the league in fan e-mail and in every WNBA arena there are Wideman banners and signs.

The 5-6 point guard began the season as a 38-minute starter but when her offensive production remained low, she was benched.

The club’s best guard tandem was its last one, Toler at the point and Dixon, who has superstar-level talent.

BUDDING COACH

K.C. Jones, coach of the New England Blizzard, says the No. 1 coaching candidate on his team is point guard Jennifer Rizzotti.

“Sometimes at the start of a timeout she’ll start talking and when she’s right on the money, I just let her keep going,” he said.

NO EASY WAY

Angela Beck, the rookie San Jose Laser coach from Nebraska, is finding that college All-Americans aren’t nearly enough to win in the ABL. At least, not young All-Americans.

Some in San Jose are disappointed at the team’s 5-12 record, considering that the team drafted big-time collegians Katryna Gaither of Notre Dame and Clarisse Machanguana of Old Dominion.

But when starting lineups were introduced Saturday for the Lasers’ game against Long Beach, San Jose’s starters had only seven years of pro experience, five by Jennifer Azzi.

Long Beach starters had 26 years of pro experience.

San Jose led for most of the game but was overwhelmed by veterans Griffith, Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil and Beverly Williams down the stretch.