News Articles – July 8, 2001

By MECHELLE VOEPEL
Kansas City Star
7/08/01

You had to figure it would happen. Jackie Stiles heads to the city, everything changes. She’s big-time now, call her agent. We’re dealing with a superstar. Really? Naaahh. Stiles, the former Southwest Missouri State standout, is indeed living up to star status on the WNBA’s courts. Going into Sunday’s late game with Utah, she led the Portland Fire in scoring at 16.6 points per game, best among the league’s rookies and sixth overall in the WNBA. Wednesday, she may be among the reserves selected by Houston coach Van Chancellor to take part in the All-Star Game on July 16. She just missed being selected as a starter by fans, being the third-leading vote-getter at guard in the Western Conference. Yeah, Stiles can play at this level. But she’s still the same Jackie, praising her new pro teammates and giggling when asked about the nuttiest things that have happened in the whirlwind of March Madness, which for Stiles extended into May. It wasn’t until she went to training camp in Portland that she actually had a chance to catch her breath. “I thought my life would really slow down after the season was over,” Stiles said of SMS’ national semifinal loss to Purdue in St. Louis. “But it got more hectic. It got crazy in Springfield; I had to turn my phone off.” Who was calling? Who wasn’t? “Sometimes it was just girls screaming into the answering machine,” Stiles said. “Or people saying, `Is there anywhere I could meet you?’ Or it was agents.” People drove past her apartment and took pictures of it, which roommate and SMS teammate Carly Deer found particularly hilarious. Sometimes, they’d just walk up and knock on the door. Some wanted to give (presents), others to receive (autographs). “One guy made me a jacket out of some kind of animal,” Stiles said when asked to recount some of the stranger encounters. “And I signed an autograph on one little guy’s forehead. I’m sure his mom really appreciated that. But he was about to cry when I said I shouldn’t do it. So I did it. “There was a guy who sculpted me out of wood…” OK, hold on. Sculpture? Did it actually resemble her? Stiles hesitated. Remember, this is the person whom SMS coach Cheryl Burnett refers to as “the nicest human being on the face of the earth.” Stiles wants to give the sculptor and his creation a boost, appreciative that he took the time to make it. “It was a girl with a ponytail,” she said encouragingly. “It looked a little bit like me.” It’s the thought that counts. And in the four months since her magical March, during which she broke the NCAA career scoring record and led her team to the Final Four, Stiles has thought just a bit about all that transpired. She hasn’t watched any game tapes yet or read many of the stories. All that’s been saved for when things slow down — whenever that is. But does Stiles have a theory on why people were so captivated by her? Well, you can kind of drag it out of her. “Probably, I think the biggest thing is me being from a small town and not going to one of the so-called `power’ schools,” Stiles said. “And here we were making it to the Final Four. It showed no matter what, if you believe in your dreams, you can accomplish them.” How does this almost too-good-to-be-true kid go over with her new mates in Portland? For someone like Vanessa Nygaard, a wise-cracking forward out of Stanford, having Stiles around means an unending supply of comic material. It’s almost too easy. Earlier this season, Nygaard teasingly announced she would collect anything associated with Stiles — her hair, her sheets, etc. — and sell it on eBay. Nygaard also got wind of Stiles’ 1,000-shots-per-day ritual. “Oh, she’s razzed me so bad about that,” Stiles said. “She told me, `Hey, Jackie, I’m doing 1,001.’ “My teammates have all been so great. Even though I’ve gotten a lot of media attention, I know I haven’t proven myself at this level.” Actually, she’s well on her way to doing that. Going into Sunday, Stiles had scored in double figures in 13 of her 15 games. Portland, an expansion franchise a year ago, is in third place in the Western Conference behind Los Angeles and Houston. Stiles has started every game and was WNBA player of the week for June 25-July 1. Stiles and the Fire face four-time champion Houston at 9 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2. The network opted to pick up that game instead of the one originally planned for broadcast, Utah-Sacramento, specifically because Stiles has been playing so well. Portland coach/general manager Linda Hargrove was sure when she selected Stiles fourth in April’s draft that the Fire was getting guaranteed scoring. But Hargrove also thought Stiles could hold her own in the less-famous part of her game. “Cheryl’s one of the top defensive coaches in the nation, and that’s helped Jackie,” Hargrove said of SMS’ Burnett. What teams are trying to do to Stiles is what Hargrove and Burnett both warned her about. They’re posting up against the 5-foot-8 Stiles, using wing players bigger than she is. Burnett reminds her to stick to the basics she was taught at SMS; specifically, don’t get caught behind a taller player. “Jackie’s relationship to me and my staff is very important to her, maintaining those connections,” Burnett said. “It’s part of keeping her confidence up through the tough times.” Defense was one of the two things Burnett had stressed SMS would help Stiles with way back when she was a freshman. But the other one was an even higher priority and wasn’t specific to basketball. “It was responsibility,” Burnett said. “It was stuff like always knowing where her car keys were, locking her apartment, using a map — being a country kid, she wasn’t used to any of that. “It included what I call the professional aspect of her life. If you have an appointment, keep it. Don’t let somebody sidetrack you because you’re too nice to tell them you can’t do something. It’s being able to say no.” Stiles has gotten good at a lot of that. She’s even figured out how to drive in Portland — which may not be a big deal to most people, but is to someone who previously has spent her life in Claflin, Kan., and Springfield. She’s represented by a company called Octagon, which also works with Houston’s Sheryl Swoopes. Stiles will have her own basketball camps when the season is over and will finish her degree at SMS. However, that saying-no thing is still a problem. “I haven’t yet been able to do it,” Stiles said. “Someone else has to say it for me.” Everything else, though, Stiles seems to be handling just like a pro.