Skylar Diggins Home Game Loss: WNBA Player Scores Once With 30 Seconds Left
Former Notre Dame star Skylar Diggins is suffering losing pangs after going from being on a top-tier team in college to a last-placed team in the WNBA.
Diggins, an Indiana native, received a scholarship to Notre Dame before she entered Washington High School. She led her high school team to four consecutive state championships, with the team going 26-1 her senior year. During that time, Diggins averaged a state-best 29 points per game. The 5'9" guard then continued her basketball career at Notre Dame, rising to fame in her sophomore year after scoring the greatest amount of assists, and placing second in scoring and third in steals.
But Diggins' experience on the Oklahoma-based Tulsa Shocks has been a different one. Diggins joined the team on a third place draft, but the Tulsa Shocks have yet to make it to a WNBA playoff game since moving to Tulsa from its original Detroit home.
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In 2012, the team began the season 1-11. The year before the team, broke a WNBA record after enduring a 20-game consecutive losing streak. Friday night, the Tulsa Shocks lost 80-69 against the Indiana Fever. It marked the first time that Diggins has played in her home state.
"It felt good to see some familiar faces in the crowd – my family and friends and the Notre Dame fans. It just feels great to have that kind of support," Diggins told the Associated Press. "I have a lot of great memories in this building."
Fans were not enough, however, to pull Diggins' game around. The player scored once with less than 34 seconds left in the game. Prior to the game, the Fever had been on a losing streak, which may have driven them, the Shocks coach suggested.
"Indiana was a desperate and hungry team," Shock coach Gary Koppenburg told AP. "Getting Catchings back gave them a boost. They were the most aggressive team and outplayed us."
