Anyone Want Two Volunteers?

Former Tennessee Teammates Holdsclaw and Catchings Do Battle: Fever 70, Mystics 61

INDIANAPOLIS, May 31 -- Washington Mystics star Chamique Holdsclaw reached two significant career milestones today at Conseco Fieldhouse, and were the outcome of the game a bit different, she might have enjoyed it.

Midway through the first half, Holdsclaw had nine points and four rebounds, giving her 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds in her fifth season in the WNBA, but the Mystics' 70-61 loss to the Indiana Fever soured the occasion.

Holdsclaw became the first player to reach the marks in the same game, the third fastest to score 2,000 points and the fourth fastest to grab 1,000 rebounds.

Her 17 points and 12 rebounds today didn't help erase the bad taste in her mouth after losing a game to the upstart Fever, powered by her good friend and college teammate, Tamika Catchings.

"We came out and played flat tonight," Holdsclaw said while slouched against a locker room wall. "We had a lot of missed defensive assignments and some mental lapses. It was Indiana's home opener, and they came out with lots of energy. It's hard to be someone's home opener."

It didn't help matters that Coco Miller and Stacey Dales-Schuman shot a combined 5 of 18. The Fever also pounded the Mystics in the lane (34-22) and made 8 of 18 three-point attempts. The Mystics went just 3 for 10 from beyond the arc.

"I expected them to pound it inside," Mystics Coach Mariane Stanley said. "Their inside game was working and clicking. We had good looks, we just didn't make them."

It's not easy for Holdsclaw to battle Catchings either, with both players knowing each other's tendencies so well. They matched wits on both ends of the floor throughout the game.

At Tennessee, Holdsclaw led the way when Catchings was learning what the college game was all about. These days, Catchings is widely regarded as the WNBA's future marketing darling. An athletic forward equally adept in the lane and on the perimeter, Catchings is the player and, perhaps more important, the transcendent personality many thought Holdsclaw would be.

"I love Tamika Catchings and everything that she brings to the table," WNBA Commissioner Val Ackerman said before Catchings's 15-point, 11-rebound, 6-assist performance. "The way she hustles, how hard she plays, the way she goes after a loose ball. She plays the game the way you wish everybody played it.

"I think she and Chamique, being such great college players and teammates, are leading that next generation of great players."

Holdsclaw characterized her budding rivalry with Catchings to be like that of their male counterparts, NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady.

"It's like Tracy and Kobe," Holdsclaw said, and then smiled. "We're friends. But of course it's competition."

Holdsclaw insists she has reached a place in her life and in her game that can't be disrupted by outside forces.

"I've reached a plateau myself on the floor because there are lots of things I can do on a basketball court, especially on the offensive end," Holdsclaw said. "I'm bringing up my game defensively. I'm excited. That's why I keep working so hard on my game in the offseason. I want to take it to that next level, to add something new each and every season.

"But I'm really comfortable out there. I know what my team expects from me. I know when I've got to make plays. I just have to go out there and do it."