More Fans Set For Second Year Of Reign

The Seattle Reign will swing into its second season with new faces on the court and new fans in Mercer Arena.

The Reign signed Stanford standout Kate Starbird, Shalonda Enis (Auburn), Joy Holmes, Astou Ndiaye (Southern Nazarene) and Val Whiting (San Jose Lasers). From last year's team Kate Paye, Angela Aycock, Christy Hedgpeth, Rhonda Smith and Linda Godby return.

Despite a 17-23 record in the American Basketball League's inaugural season, season-ticket sales rose from last year.

About 1,500 season tickets have been sold. The team said 92 percent of the 1,155 season-ticket holders from last year have bought tickets again.

"It's really fantastic," said Jim Weyermann, the team's general manager. ". . . By the season opener, we hope to have between 1,700 and 1,900 season-ticket holders."

Assistant General Manager Karen Bryant said the WNBA's first season and a wider fan appeal has helped sell more tickets.

"In year two we wanted to expand on our season-ticket base and appeal to the crossover sports fan," Bryant said. "Last year we had the die-hard women's basketball fan."

The Reign opens Oct. 15 at San Jose.

NOTES

-- Rookie Ndiaye is in her hometown of Dakar, Senegal, waiting for her immigration papers to be processed. The Reign expects Ndiaye to be in Seattle Friday.

-- The Reign will play a scrimmage at 6 p.m. Saturday at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. Admission is $2 at the door.

-- Coach Jacquie Hullah will make cuts Sept. 28, to bring the squad down to 11 players. Three players - point guard Kira Orr (Duke, 1997), guard Charmin Smith (Stanford, 1997) and center Debbie Osburn, who stepped in last season for Venus Lacy - are competing for the final spot on the roster.

-- Reign games will be broadcast on KXXO, 96.1 FM, which signed a three-year agreement to broadcast the 44 regular-season games. The Reign will be the first ABL team to be broadcast on an FM station.

FOX Sports Net will broadcast both regular-season and postseason games. There will be live coverage Sundays at 4 p.m. (Pacific time). The Reign's scheduled dates are Nov. 9 against Long Beach, Dec. 14 against Portland and Jan. 11 against Long Beach.