| | Associated Press
HOUSTON -- Houston Comets forward Sheryl Swoopes
accomplished just about everything she set her mind to this season, but she couldn't keep from crying Thursday as she accepted the WNBA trophy as the league's most valuable player.
|  | | Sheryl Swoopes displayed tremendous versatility this season, hitting big baskets and playing tough defense. |
Swoopes, a 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist, was the first WNBA player
signed in 1997 but she immediately went on maternity leave and
played sparingly her first season.
She started her pro career with defensive deficiencies but
improved so much that on Tuesday she was named the league's
defensive player of the year after winning the league's scoring
title for the first time.
Getting the MVP trophy on top of all that brought out the emotions.
"It seems like when I think things can't get any better, they
get better," Swoopes said. "I have a lot of people to thank. The
one thing I said, if I won the MVP trophy I wasn't going to cry."
Swoopes received 527 points and 38 first place votes to edge Los
Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie, the team and player the Comets
faced Thursday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
Leslie got 450 votes as the runner-up. Yolanda Griffith of
Sacramento was third with 224 points and Natalie Williams of Utah
fourth with 125 points. Cynthia Cooper, a two-time MVP winner, and
Tina Thompson, both of Houston, finished fifth and sixth.
Swoopes said her slow start in the WNBA because of her pregnancy
and the four years of hard work to reach the top made winning the
MVP special.
"There were a lot of expectations placed on some of us when
this league was started, Rebeca Lobo and Lisa Leslie too," Swoopes
said. "To help the Houston Comets win three titles and then win
this, that's makes it very special for me."
WNBA president Val Ackerman said Swoopes passed the "Wow" test.
"When you go to a game and see a shot, a play or a player
coming through, you say, 'Did you see that? Wow,'" Ackerman said.
"This year it seems that Sheryl Swoopes and 'wow' were pretty much
synonymous."
Swoopes averaged 20.7 points in the 2000 season, taking the
league scoring title from Cooper, who won it the first three
seasons of the WNBA. Leading the WNBA with 2.81 steals per game
helped Swoopes win her defensive honor. She also had 3.8 assists
1.06 blocked shots and 6.3 rebounds.
"The one thing that could make this greater would be to beat
LA," Swoopes said. "At this time of year, the real players take
their games to another level and that's one thing that my teammates
and I will have to do."
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ALSO SEE
Not all offense: Swoopes named top defender
Liberty's Phillips named WNBA's most improved
Minnesota's Lennox earns Rookie of Year honor
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Sheryl Swoopes has had a rewarding career in the WNBA.
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