Moore, now with the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Indiana Fever, will play for a WNBA championship when the Fever take the floor against the Phoenix Mercury in the decisive match of the five-game series.
The Fever and the Mercury, tied 2-2 in the best-of-5 series, tip-off today at 5 p.m., AST, in Phoenix, Ariz., in a game nationally televised on ESPN2.
 Indiana Fever center Jessica Moore celebrates the Fever'€™s 86-85 win over the Phoenix Mercury in the third game of the best-of-5 WNBA basketball finals, in Indianapolis last Sunday. Moore is a former Colony Knights standout and two-time Gatorade Alaska player of the Year. TOM STRICKLAND/ Associated Press |
Tonight, with a Fever win, Moore would add a professional championship to her illustrious basketball resume.
“That would be real special,” Moore’s high school coach, former Colony head coach Don Witzel said Thursday afternoon. “She’s an amazing kid.”
Moore, a 6-foot-3 center, averages about 15 minutes per game off the bench, serving as a defensive specialist for the Fever.
“She’s got a role to play, and she understands that,” Witzel said. “She seems to play very well into that role. She brings to them a very positive attitude, and a lot of energy.”
In 15.2 minutes per game during the regular season, Moore averaged about five points and three rebounds per contest. Moore made 31 appearances after she was signed by the Fever three games into the start of the 2009 season.
Moore has seen action in nine playoff games. She scored four points during Indiana’s 86-85 win over the Mercury last Sunday. On Wednesday, hit a pair of free throws and pulled down three rebounds during a 90-77 loss to Phoenix.
Witzel, who still corresponds with Moore and occasionally get a chance to see his former star on television, said Moore still does many things that don’t show up on the statistic sheets.
“She does a great job of blocking out,” Wtizel said. “She keeps making herself valuable to teams.”
Witzel believes Moore could be the first Alaska player to be part of a WNBA championship team if the Fever do get the chance to cut down the nets tonight.
“For an Alaska athlete, she’s right up there at the pinnacle,” Witzel said.
Her storied career started at Colony, where Moore was named the Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year twice. Moore was also a Parade All-American.
At UConn, Moore was part of a senior class that capped its time in Storrs, Conn., with a 132-13 record. Moore was a member of three national championship teams, and started 72 straight games during her career.
Moore consistently led her team in rebounding and finished her career ranked third in school history with a 58.4 field goal percentage.
In 2005, Moore was selected by the Charlotte Sting with the 24th pick in the WNBA draft. Her stay in Charlotte was short, but she landed with the Los Angeles Sparks during the 2005 season.
Moore spent four season in Los Angeles. Moore played in 106 games for the Sparks, making 52 starts.
Moore started 33 games during the 2006, and helped Los Angeles advance to the WNBA playoffs.
Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
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1 comment(s)Palmer wrote on Oct 10, 2009 9:37 AM: