BATON ROUGE — Three-time WNBA All-Star Marie Ferdinand, 2005 WNBA Rookie of the Year Temeka Johnson and Seimone Augustus, the No. 1 pick of the 2006 draft, highlight the seven former LSU women’s basketball players on opening day rosters of the 2006 WNBA season.
Ferdinand begins her sixth season in the league and with the San Antonio Silver Stars. The former Lady Tigers’ All-American earned WNBA All-Star status in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
The Silver Stars begin the season Sunday against the Houston Comets and former LSU player Roneeka Hodges in her second season in the league.
Hodges twin sister Doneeka begins her third season with the Los Angeles Sparks and is joined on the squad by Johnson, the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year last season for the Washington Mystics. Johnson was traded to the Sparks during the off season.
The Sparks open the season on Sunday against the Seattle Storm.
Augustus, the first selection in this past April’s draft by the Minnesota Lynx will begin her post-LSU basketball career on Tuesday against Connecticut at 8 p.m. CST on ESPN2.
Scholanda Hoston, Augustus LSU teammate and fellow first-round selection in the 2006 draft, also gets her post-LSU career started with the defending champion Sacramento Monarchs. She and the Monarchs will get the WNBA’s 10th season underway Saturday afternoon by hosting the Phoenix Mercury.
Elaine Powell, a member of the 2003 WNBA Champion Detroit Shock, begins her eighths season in the WNBA and the first with the expansion Chicago Sky. The Sky play Saturday night against Charlotte.