STANFORD, Calif. – Three Stanford alumnae – Nneka Ogwumike, Karlie Samuelson and Chiney Ogwumike – will have the opportunity to win a WNBA Championship when the league's 2018 postseason begins on Tuesday night.
Nneka Ogwumike, the 2016 MVP, Karlie Samuelson and the Los Angeles Sparks (19-15) secured the No. 6 seed and will host the seventh-seeded Minneosta Lynx (18-16) in a single-elimination game at 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN2. The league's two dominant franchises, Los Angeles and Minnesota have met in the WNBA Finals the past two years with each series going five games. The Sparks, who took three of four regular-season games against the Lynx this year, won it all in 2016 and Minnesota took home the title in 2017.
Ogwumike, questionable for tonight's game because of an illness, started all 27 games in which she played this season, averaging 15.5 points on 52.5 percent shooting, 6.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists. She earned her fifth All-Star nod this season, but was unable to participate in the WNBA's summer showcase. Samuelson appeared in 20 games in her first year in the league and averaged 1.0 point in 4.2 minutes per outing.
A win on Tuesday for Los Angeles could set up another win-or-go home game across the country against either the Connecticut Sun (21-13) or Washington Mystics (22-12) on Thursday night.
The Sun are led by Chiney Ogwumike, who earned her second All-Star selection in July after missing two of the previous three seasons due to injury. First on the team in scoring and second in rebounding, the younger Ogwumike started 31 games and averaged 14.4 points and 7.3 rebounds. She is one of three players in the league shooting better than 60 percent from the field (.603).
Connecticut is the No. 4 seed and has a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Since the WNBA's inaugural season (1997), 29 former Stanford players have appeared in a regular-season game and seven players have won a combined eight WNBA championships.