PHOENIX, May 18 (UPI) -- Diana Taurasi makes her debut as a pro Thursday in one of three games opening the 2004 WNBA season.
Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury open at home against the Sacramento Monarchs. In the other openers, the San Antonio Stars visit the Houston Comets and the Minnesota Lynx play the Storm in Seattle.
Two games are scheduled Friday and seven more on the weekend.
Taurasi, the all-America guard who led Connecticut to three straight NCAA Tournament titles, will play her first regular-season game for Phoenix, which chose her as the No. 1 pick in this year's draft. The Phoenix team had just an 8-26 record last season.
Other recent collegiate stars now in the WNBA include Alana Beard of the Washington Mystics, Lindsay Whalen of the Connecticut Sun, Nicole Ohlde of Minnesota and Nicole Powell of the Charlotte Sting.
The defending league champion is the Detroit Shock.
The WNBA is taking most of August off because many of its players will be participating in the Summer Olympics in Athens. Because of that break in the season schedule, the league's playoffs will be move ahead to October. Last season the playoffs ended in mid-September.
