Chiney Ogwumike's Winning Character Shaped By Relationship With Sister Nneka
With Round 2 of the Ogwumike battle about to commence, Chiney Ogwumike confidently moved through the Connecticut Sun layup line, as her best friend and older sister, Nneka, stretched at midcourt. More important than a matchup of star siblings, it would be a game between two teams desperately fighting for playoff berths.
A few hours later, 22-year-old Chiney was finished carrying a young team on her back for 37-plus minutes. Despite the rookie’s brilliance, especially in the second half where she scored 17 points, her inexperienced squad squandered a six-point lead with 29.8 seconds left, only to lose by a single point. The Connecticut Sun forward recorded her 13th double-double (23 points, 12 rebounds) of the season, good for third in the league, yet still came away unsatisfied.
“Ugh, I just want to punch her in the face right now,” Chiney joked after the loss, referring to her sister Nneka.
She vented with a smile on her face, but wasn’t able to hide an underlying sense of exasperation. Read more >>
2014 LA Sparks Season Preview: The Quest for a Title
Last postseason ended in heartbreak, as Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner’s late turnaround jumper over Candace Parker sent the Sparks into an early offseason. In a decisive Game 3, they had lost by a single point on their home court, losing the chance for a Western Conference Finals rematch with the Minnesota Lynx.
It represented the second straight year, in which the Sparks finished 24-10 but failed to emerge from the West and make the WNBA Finals. In 2012, the Lynx similarly eliminated the Sparks by one point at Staples Center.
“To me as a coach,” said Sparks head coach Carol Ross, “I think heartbreakers are always the ones that stick with you the longest, and they have the greatest lessons to be learned.”
In sports, as tough as the defeat(s) may be, typically you have a chance for redemption, a chance to grow from your past failures. Well, the LA Sparks almost didn’t get that chance, at least in Los Angeles.
In December, Sparks owner Paula Madison notified the WNBA that her family could no longer afford to invest in the team. Thus, the WNBA took temporary control of the team. In the ensuing months, it became increasingly likely that the Los Angeles Sparks, one of four still-standing original WNBA franchises, would be bought by the Warriors’ ownership group and moved to the Bay Area.
In early February, however, an investment group led by Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Mark Walter swooped in and saved the day. The team would be remaining in the City of Angels, where it would have more opportunities to compete for titles.
“Magic buys the office lunch all the time,” said Sparks general manager Penny Toler, “and every time he’s getting ready to say his prayer, he’s always like, ‘Penny, the team gotta win, the team gotta win.’” Read more >>
Fire and Ice
Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike Are on Their Way to WNBA Stardom
It’s easy to get overlooked when playing alongside 2013 WNBA MVP Candace Parker, who has been the face of the league since she was drafted first overall in 2008 out of powerhouse Tennessee. While Nneka Ogwumike may not garner the name recognition of, say, Candace Parker, Brittney Griner or Elena Delle Donne—few do—since entering the league two seasons ago, she has undoubtedly morphed into one of its top interior players. The scary part? She may not even be the best player in her family when all is said and done.
Nneka and her younger sister, Chiney, started out as gymnasts. When they grew too tall for the sport—Nneka, 11 years old, and Chiney, 9—their mom’s coworker recommended they try basketball.
Having never played basketball before, both girls were extremely raw. Nneka persevered through the awkwardness and continued practicing with the other players. Her younger sister, however, felt too embarrassed to continue. “I ran away,” Chiney recalled. “I hid in the bathroom for the rest of that practice.”
That entire first year, Chiney would sit in the gym and observe her big sis play the game that gradually became less and less foreign to her. “When we’d go home, Nneka would say, ‘Hey, this is what we learned,’ and she’s showing me.”
Big Sis Arrives
After leading the Stanford Cardinal to four consecutive Final Four appearances, Nneka was taken by the Los Angeles Sparks with their No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft. Less than two months into her inaugural pro season, Nneka grabbed 20 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive glass, in a three-point win over the Fever. Ogwumike earned Rookie of the Year honors, as the Sparks’ winning percentage jumped from .441 before her arrival to .706, third-best in the league. She finished the season with averages of 14.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals on 53.5 percent shooting.
Following the season, Nneka went to Poland, where she continued to improve her game. In a league that featured 2012 WNBA MVP Tina Charles, Ogwumike led her team to a 23-1 record, while recording a league-high 18.3 points per game. Her dominant play continued throughout the postseason, culminating in a four-game Finals sweep of Charles’ squad.
During the ’12-13 campaign, her second season with the Sparks, Nneka’s scoring and rebounding increased despite a slight decrease in playing time. Most notably, her free-throw and field-goal shooting improved by 9.2 and 3.1 percent, respectively. For her efforts, Nneka made her first WNBA All-Star team and was later invited to train with Team USA this fall. In fact, Chiney was also invited, but chose not to accept in order to focus on academics and preparing for her senior season at Stanford.
Chiney’s Turn
Connecticut and Notre Dame came calling, among other schools, but Chiney decided to follow her older sister to Stanford, where the two would play together for a couple seasons. Just nine years after having been terrified to even step foot on to a basketball court, Chiney posted 11.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as a freshman. Boasting a pair of Ogwumike sisters, the Cardinal came within one point of playing in the 2011 National Championship game.
After Nneka graduated, Chiney was left without her sister, whom she relied upon heavily.
“Chiney was hit with that reality of, ‘Ok, I’ve got to take care of myself,’” said her mother, Ify. “It was tough for her for a little while ’til she got her bearings. She lost a lot of weight, because she didn’t know how to think about food. Nneka just took care of her [while at Stanford].”
If she had a frustration or something she wanted to discuss, Chiney could no longer leave her dorm to quickly find her trusty older sister. At the same time, Nneka’s departure forced Chiney to take responsibility for herself, both on the off the court.
“Her not being around has helped me mature and that helps me mature on the court as a player,” said Chiney. “I would always think to myself, What would Nneka do? What would Nneka do in this situation?”
In Chiney’s first season without Nneka, her junior year, she averaged 22.4 points and 12.9 rebounds per game, ranking her in the top seven nationwide in each category. She also managed to record 1.7 blocks per contest. Despite her phenomenal individual contributions, Georgia upset Stanford in the 2013 Sweet 16.
A year later, Chiney looks forward to her senior season, where she hopes to bring the Cardinal a National Championship, something her older sister couldn’t accomplish. She says she’s getting stronger and has been working on her perimeter skills, such as ball handling and developing her outside shot.
Read more >>
2013 LA Sparks Season Preview
The Sparks Hope to Fight for a WNBA Championship This Year
The Los Angeles Sparks open their 2013 season Sunday evening with lofty expectations, one year removed from a tremendously successful season that was halted by the Minnesota Lynx in the Western Conference finals.
In 2012, Carol Ross’ first year at the helm, the squad improved by nine wins, a considerable jump in winning percentage from .441 to .706. Surprisingly, for a franchise that has experienced so much success throughout the WNBA’s history, it was its first 20-win season since 2008, Candace Parker’s rookie year. In fact, ’08 and ’12 are the only seasons Parker has played at least 30 games.
Last year, the Sparks cleaned up, winning most of the league’s biggest awards. Ross earned Coach of the Year honors, first-overall pick Nneka Ogwumike won WNBA Rookie of the Year and guard Kristi Toliver was recognized as the league’s Most Improved Player after increasing her scoring average from 11.2 to 17.5 points per game. Meanwhile, she managed to raise her field-goal percentage to 49.1, including 42.4 percent from three-point range. In the most important individual category, Parker finished second in MVP-voting, earning 253 points, just behind Connecticut’s Tina Charles, who got 345.
Parker put the team on her back last postseason, averaging 28.8 points per game on 57.3 percent shooting. In Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, the MVP runner-up played all 40 minutes and scored 33 points to go along with 15 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Even so, the Lynx won by a single point, effectively eliminating the Sparks from title contention. Parker didn’t touch the ball once on her team’s final possession. Read more >>
