(August 15, 2001)

Portland's Jackie Stiles Wins 
2001 WNBA Rookie Of The Year Award

NEW YORK, August 15 - Portland Fire guard Jackie Stiles has been named the 2001 WNBA Rookie of the Year.  She received 32 of a possible 60 votes from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.  Lauren Jackson of the Seattle Storm received 20 votes, Marie Ferdinand of the Utah Starzz received five votes, Svetlana Abrosimova of the Minnesota Lynx received two votes and Ruth Riley of the Miami Sol received one vote.  Stiles finished the regular season second among rookies in scoring with 14.9 points per game (9th in the WNBA).  The 5-8 guard, who started all 32 games for the Fire (11-21) and finished as the team's leading scorer, led rookies in three-point field-goal percentage, connecting on 43.1 percent (6th in the WNBA) from beyond the arc.  Stiles was selected by Portland out of Southwest Missouri State in the first round (fourth overall) of the 2001 WNBA Draft.  As the WNBA Rookie of the Year, Stiles will receive a Tiffany-designed trophy and $5,000.  The 60-member voting panel consisted of 12 national media representatives, as well as media representatives from each of the league's 16 markets who cover the WNBA regularly.  Below are the complete results of the 2001 WNBA Rookie of the Year vote and past recipients:

Rookie Of The Year Results

32, Jackie Stiles, Portland Fire                 

20, Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm               

5, Marie Ferdinand, Utah Starzz                  

2, Svetlana Abrosimova, Minnesota Lynx 

1, Ruth Riley, Miami Sol

Rookie Of The Year Winners

2000, Betty Lennox, Minnesota Lynx        

1999, Chamique Holdsclaw, Washington Mystics

1998, Tracy Reid, Charlotte Sting

The 2001 WNBA Playoffs tip off on Thursday, August 16 with all games scheduled to be televised nationally on NBC, ESPN and ESPN 2.  The 2001 WNBA Championship will get underway on August 30 with Game 1 on ESPN 2 at 8:00 p.m. EDT, followed by Games 2 and 3 (if necessary) on NBC on September 1 and 2, respectively.   A record 2,323,164 fans attended WNBA regular-season games this season, an average of 9,075 fans per game.  The combined local, national and international television coverage reached nearly 60 million fans in 23 different languages and 167 countries.  For more information on the WNBA, visit www.wnba.com.