Friday, July 18, 2014

WNBA All-Star Sister Weekend

Back in April when Chiney Ogwumike was drafted number one by the Connecticut Sun, she and her sister, Nneka Ogwumike made history. They were the first pair of siblings in the WNBA to be drafted number one. Heck, let’s take that a step further to show how rare that is. The feat has only been accomplished one other time in any major sport, men’s or women’s, when Peyton and Eli Manning did it in football. And that is some great company!

So leave it to the intrepid Ogwumike sisters to make history again when they became the first pair of sisters to be chosen to participate in the WNBA All-Star game. Granted, both go in as reserves, but it is still a pretty cool feat. And not even Nneka can say she got the All-Star nod her rookie season, as Chiney has done. Nneka had to wait a year, when she went for the first time last year. This is her second nod.

The sisters also made personal history when they played against each other July 15th of this year. In the sisters' first WNBA meeting, Nneka scored 24 points and got the win, while Chiney contributed 18 points in the loss.
Nneka V Chiney Ogwumike

Why is that noteworthy, their first time playing against each other? The famous story around the Stanford campus is that the two did not play each other in practice. Well, they did in an early practice in Chiney’s freshmen year, when Nneka was the wise junior. Chiney elbowed Nneka, the story goes, and Nneka threatened revenge, so Chiney excused herself to stand by coach. And that’s when Stanford Women’s Basketball coach Tara VanDerveer said that’s it, you two will never be on opposite sides. And they weren’t. Whether on the court or off it. Each is the others biggest cheerleader.


So the all-star game, while sharing the pre-game stuff together, will mark the second time they have to play each other. The third time will be when Chiney’ Sun goes to LA in August.
While the All-Star game is fun to watch the best of the best, when the sisters play each other, it is so conflicting to C and R. Who to root for? Although we all know West side is the best side.

Follow C and R for more WNBA action on Facebook and Twitter, too!

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