Wednesday, April 29, 1998

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Nani Cockett, left, is shooting for
a career in the WNBA.

---

Cockett ponders future

UH star is a free agent
after not being taken in today's
WNBA draft

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

The WNBA draft came and went and Nani Cockett was not a part of it.

The University of Hawaii star forward had visions of being one of 40 players picked by the 10 WNBA teams in the four-round draft, which started this morning at 5 a.m.

But it never came about.

Malgorzata Dydek, a 7-foot-2 223-pound center from Poland, was the first player picked by the Utah Starzz. The Sacramento Monarchs, with the second pick, selected two-time All-American Ticha Penicheiro from Old Dominion.

Then it was Murriel Page, a forward/center from Florida who was picked by Washington.

Player after player was selected but Cockett's name was never called.

Cockett had eagerly awaited the draft since attending the WNBA's pre-draft camp in Chicago April 16-18.

"The outcome determines which way my life goes and none of it is in my hands," Cockett said yesterday.

"If I don't get drafted, then I have to go through a whole new process of finding teams with free-agent camps and deciding what I'm going to do with the rest of my life."

Cockett said she did OK at the pre-draft camp, although it took her a while to adjust.

"It was hard because there was so much talent there," she said. "I hadn't faced talent like that during my college years, except maybe once or twice."

Training camp starts May 11.

NOTES: Signing WNBA contracts yesterday were Nykesha Sales, who averaged 20.9 points a game for Connecticut last season; two-time All-American Ticha Peni-cheiro of Old Dominion, and Kristin Folkl, an All-Pac-10 selection who led Stanford in scoring (18.9) and rebounding (9.2).

The WNBA has signed 44 college seniors to 1998 contracts.