WNBA Sees Second Slam Dunk
Jul 17th, 2008 by mhueter
I know I’m a little late reporting, but I find this to be a marked place in the history of women’s basketball. On June 22, 2008, Candace Parker slammed the second women’s dunk in the WNBA. She’s been dunking since high school, but this marked only the second time someone has done it professionally, and it hit generated national attention and claimed some space on YouTube, as seen below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbVyvjW40Gs]
Parker was also the first women’s basketball player to dunk in an NCAA women’s basketball game (she did so in 2006, when she dunked twice against Army). Lisa Leslie of the Los Angeles Sparks was the first to throw down a dunk against the Miami Sol on July 30, 2002. That has since been voted WNBA’s greatest milestone.
Check out this great interview between NPR and Nancy Lieberman-Klein from back in 2006. Here, they discuss why dunking is so rare in women’s basketball, and why Candace Parker is changing history.
I agree with Lieberman-Klein. Candace is making milestones, and she’s starting trends that girls across America will follow. That is the beauty of women’s sports.
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Even if I saw this video about a hundred times, I’m still flabbergasted by her dunk. It’s so rare!
Get used to it. With female athletes like Brittney Griner (espn.com article) the women’s game may soon be played above the rim.
Here is a local news story on her.