PHOENIX — Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Tauraci became the first WNBA player to reach 9,000 points on Sunday. When she lined up for a foul with a time of 8 minutes 23 seconds in the second quarter against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Taurasi, the WNBA’s all-time top scorer, is the only one on the charts. But now she has a new milestone attached to this success. The next closest player to the league’s all-time top scorer list is Tina Thompson with 7,488 points, and Candice Dupree is the next closest active player with 6,820.
For Taurasi, 39, hitting 9,000 in her 88-79 win is just another record among her numbers.
“Yes, it’s cool,” she said. “It’s another record that will hopefully be broken by someone who loves basketball who has devoted her entire life.
“So I think today it was good to do it in front of the fans at home in the first game when we were full and winning. So today there are a lot of advantages that can be done and you know that.”
Taurasi in her long-awaited return Came into Sunday’s game needing six points to reach the plateau. She sits at 8,994 since May 21 as she missed the last five weeks with a fractured sternum. In the end, Taurasi filled the box with 25 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists
But in typical Taurasi fashion, she overlooked the stats and quickly set a goal elsewhere: 10,000 points.
“I guess I’ll be happy if I reach 10,000,” Taurasi stammered. “That’s when I’m going to be really happy and celebrating. I might be throwing a party, but at 9,000 I feel like there’s still a lot of work to do.”
The record comes with being in the league for a long time, Taurasi noted. she said it was “A sign of, I think, the time and effort you put into it.”
Taurasi, who is in her 17th season, said she was more proud to score all of her points with one team than she could, which she had never anticipated in her career.
“I think back. I do everything with one team,” she said, “and that means a lot to me. Because there are many players, coaches and executives coming from Phoenix. And that really helped me.
“I would say that I was lucky to be enlisted here. I’m lucky they believe in me. that they actually left everything behind me, so yeah, that might mean more. more than all scores.”
Taurasi did not see herself as a goalscorer when she entered the league as first choice in 2004 and she is still not seen to this day. Although there are numbers that prove otherwise.
“I’m not a very high scorer in college,” she said. “I think my senior year, I averaged 15 points. That’s not. I think the basis of my game. And I think it’s not quite yet.
“So to score that much? Just think of it as a tribute to the system I play.”
It was a memorable month for Taurasi even before the historic race. last week She was named to the US Olympic women’s basketball team. for the fifth time
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