HOT HOT 
Hot Hands
Katie Smith and Sheryl Swoopes have the hottest hands in the WNBA this season. Smith leads the league averaging 22.9 points per game, while Swoopes comes in a very close second with 22.4 ppg. To score, you have to have great assist leaders and this season, Ticha Penicheiro dishes her way into first, averaging 7.7 assists per game. Andrea Nagy, T-Spoon, Shannon Johnson and Dawn Staley round out the top five, each averaging around 6 per game.
Betty Lennox
Louisiana Tech Rookie, Betty Lennox, has quickly left her paw print on the WNBA. Averaging over 13 points per game, Lennox poured in a career high 25 points and had 4 steals in a win over Orlando on June 15. Lennox had another dominating performance against the Orlando team a week earlier when she scored 24 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Her first double-double was June 3, a disappointing loss to LA.
Los Angeles Sparks
With four commanding wins in a row versus Utah, Minnesota, Portland and Phoenix, the Sparks have once again put themselves in position to be top contenders in the west. Mabika, Leslie, and Milton lead the charge for the Sparks who now trail Houston by 1.5 games.
Swoopes and Holdsclaw
As WNBA All-Star balloting gets under way, Swoopes and Holdsclaw emerge as the fan favorites. Starters will be announced July 8.
Tiffany Young
Tiffany Young died last year in a tragic car accident, but her memory lives on. In honor of their daughter, Young's family has decided to build a youth center in Hillsboro, about a half-mile from her childhood home.
Buzzer Beaters
With so much talent on every team, the WNBA has been non-stop excitement this season. Taj McWilliams threw in a last minute shot for the Miracle to put them over the Sting by one point. The Lynx edged the Rockers 60-57 in OT with Katie Smith's three in the final seconds. Look for more close games and last-second heroics as the season continues.
NOT
Fan Attendance
Attendance is plummeting throughout the league, with only one team showing any improvement at all over last season -- and that franchise, Sacramento, is up only 1 percent. Houston and Washington are down by similar amounts, so perhaps a better way to view the situation is that three teams are holding on to fans they won in the first three years of WNBA play. And New York, one of the league's bellwethers, is down just 5.4 percent. Elsewhere, though, the news is not nearly as good. Seven teams have watched attendance drop by more than 24 percent, with Charlotte's attendance off a devastating 33 percent from a year ago. Orlando, despite a good beginning in its debut in 1999, has suffered a 31 percent correction while expansion sister Minnesota and Detroit are off by 30 percent. Los Angeles, despite plenty of marquee names and a hot start, has declined 28 percent from last year, which is deadly for the WNBA's profile in one of the nation's biggest cities. The league total? A decline of 16.7 percent in average attendance per game since 1999. However, numbers should climb once children are out of school and the season progresses. But, just to be on the safe side, go out and buy some tickets please!
Nancy Darsch
In a bold move, Washington Mystics head-coach, Nancy Darsch benched her star player during crucial moments in the Mystics' loss to the Monarchs. After the game, Holdsclaw had these words for her coach... I got benched," she said. "I feel insulted. I think I’ve proven myself over and over again in clutch situations. I don’t play for the coaches, I play for my teammates. I think this team plays for each other. I think we’ll win basketball games with [Darsch] but I don’t think we’ll ever be a great team. If we do, it will be because of us.”
