Defending WABA Champs Drop Queens In Home Opener, 104-51
Steel City Queens Assistant Coach Charles Cook talks with DC's Head Coach Wes Graves. Photos by Thomas Leturgey By Thomas Leturgey In pre-game preparations, Steel City Queens’ Assistant Coach Charles Cook told the team that they needed to avoid turnovers to defeat the Women’s American Basketball Association (WABA) champions, the DC Cyclones. For the first few moments of the Queens’ Home Opener at A Giving Heart Community Center in the Allentown neighborhood within the city of Pittsburgh, the club did just that. Cook (l) addresses the Queens (including owner and coach Ace Pippens in the center) before Saturday's home opener. Down to just seven players, owner and head coach Ace Pippen’s team took an immediate lead with Ariana Sanders’ jump shot about 30 seconds into the game. DC’s Octavia Jett-Wilson tied the game and Sasha Orr tied that score after a Queens turnover and three-point play within the confines of the WABA’s “Three D” rule. [ ABA and WABA rules dictate if a turno