UCLA’s Funicello joins Sparks’ training
camp
UCLA center Carly Funicello was recently selected to participate
in the Los Angeles Sparks’ 18-player training camp that began
Thursday. About 93 non-drafted players were assigned to teams by
the WNBA based on team preferences and competitive
considerations.
Funicello will still have to compete for a spot on the
Sparks’ regular season roster.
The 6-foot-4 North Hills native averaged 4.8 points and 3.6
rebounds in 37 career starts spanning a four-year varsity career.
She is the second youngest player on the Sparks’ preseason
roster behind Felecity Willis of Arizona and the second tallest,
trailing only 6-foot-5 center Lisa Leslie.
Ranking eighth on UCLA’s all-time career list in blocked
shots with 59, Funicello started 27 games during a freshman
campaign that earned her All-Pac-10 freshman honorable mention
honors.
Los Angeles opens its preseason schedule May 17 against the
Charlotte Sting in North Carolina. It returns to the West Coast on
May 19 to play the expansion Seattle Storm in Bellevue, Wash. The
Sparks then close out the exhibition season with a May 26 contest
against Seattle at 7 p.m. at the Great Western Forum.
The Sparks posted the second best record in the Western
Conference last year at 20-12, six games behind the eventual WNBA
champions, the Houston Comets.
Back on Jan. 30, 1999, Funicello recorded a double-double of 16
points and 17 rebounds (a career high) in a 100-70 victory over the
Washington State Cougars at Pauley Pavilion. She posted her career
high of 17 points in her first collegiate game on Dec. 5, 1997
““ an 87-69 victory over San Diego at Pauley Pavilion.
Should she make the Sparks’ regular season roster,
Funicello will join former Bruins Maylana Martin of the Minnesota
Lynx and Natalie Williams of the Utah Starzz in the WNBA.
WNBA teams are forced to cut down their rosters on May 28, the
eve of the league’s fourth regular season.
Notes compiled by AJ Cadman, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.