Sports Talk: Different Routes

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

THOUGH THEY BOTH grew up in D.C. and were stars at local high schools, the Mystics' Nikki Teasley, 28, and Monique Currie, 24, had experiences here that were almost as different as their playing styles.

Teasley, a pure point guard who has led the WNBA in assists in two of her five years in the league, grew up in Southeast, constantly playing pickup ball with her older brothers and their friends at Anacostia's Fort Stanton.

She remembers earning respect at a young age: At nine, she beat her 11-year-old brother at one-on-one. At 12, she was playing on a boy's team for 15-year-olds.

Teasley said she keeps in touch with a lot of her childhood friends and often sees them and her older brothers at Mystics games.

There is a bittersweet tinge to Teasley's success, though. Some friends "in my hood didn't make it, due to the choices that they made," and her older brother Ernie, who she says encouraged her the most as an athlete, passed away at a young age.

Currie, on the other hand, is a 6-foot-tall forward and, in just her second year in the league, already is an explosive scorer. She grew up in Northwest, off of Georgia and Missouri Avenues. She says she didn't play street ball much, instead honing her skills at a neighbor's backyard basket.

Currie doesn't see many of her old friends anymore: She attended a prep school and most of them have left the area.

The Bullis School alumnus was an All-American at Duke and is considered one of the best players in ACC history. Teasley chose UNC and racked up the second-most assists in ACC history. They both, eventually, made their way back to D.C.

Though neither Washingtonian played a major role in the Mystics' 106-101 win at Phoenix on Wednesday night, the 2-9 club is pushing both as potential-all-stars and will need continued solid play from them to turn its year around.

Written by Express contributor Tim Follos
Photo by Joel Richardson/The Washington Post