Thursday, March 31, 2005
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - After joining the National Women's Basketball League (NWBL) in 2004, the Colorado Chill and Dallas Fury own identical records of 33-15 and they will meet in the league title game for the second straight season on Friday night at the Budweiser Events Center.

The only difference between the two franchises is that Dallas owns a league championship after defeating Colorado 73-69 in last year's Pro Cup title game. Colorado hopes the roles will be reserved in Friday's game. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

In 2004, the NWBL followed a tournament style format for the postseason with all six games being played in Dallas, but the league adopted a true playoff format for 2005. The old format forced the Chill, who won the league title in 2004, to play in the Fury's backyard. With the change for 2005, Colorado clinched home-court throughout the playoffs with a regular season mark of 16-8, something that should have been the case last season.

Colorado earned their way into the title game by defeating the Chicago Blaze on Wednesday night by a final score of 83-66. Dallas edged out a four-point, 72-68 win over their in-state rivals, the Lubbock Hawks to advance.

The Chill and Fury have developed an intense rivalry after two seasons of play, with Dallas owning a one-game edge in the series, 5-4. Both teams have held court at home in the nine meetings.

The two teams have split the four games this season with Dallas winning easy on their home court and Colorado squeaking by at the Budweiser Events Center. In the two games played in Dallas this year, the Fury has defeated the Chill by an average of 16 points per contest. On the other end, Colorado has defeated the Fury by an average of just four points a night.

In the last meeting between the two clubs on March 18, the Fury almost accomplished something that has never happened at the BEC, and that was hand Colorado a loss. Dallas had two looks at jumpers in the final 8.5 seconds, but they missed long and short, respectively. The Chill came away with the 74-73 victory.

Outside of the two full units on the court, the game was really a fistfight of sorts between the league's number one and number two scorers. The Fury's Anna DeForge landed the early punches in the battle, as she kept making difficult jumpers in the face of Chill defenders. Hammon countered in the second half with some big blows of her own, including the game-winning jumper from the free throw line with 8.9 seconds remaining.

DeForge finished the game with 27 points on 9 of 19 from the field, while Hammon ended the night with a game-best 31 points on 10 of 17 from the floor. Hammon overtook DeForge in the month of March to win the scoring title with an average of 23.2 points per game. DeForge finished the season 1.5 points shy of winning her second consecutive scoring title with an average of 21.8 points per contest.

Individual game tickets for the 2005 playoffs can be purchased online at www.comcasttix.com, by phone at 877-544-8499 or at the Budweiser Events Center Box Office. Adult general admission tickets begin at $11 each.

Group tickets for the semifinal game with Chicago, as well as the possible game, can be purchased from the Budweiser Events Center by calling Tracie Fehringer at 970-619-4122. Group prices start at just $5 per ticket and range up to $11 per ticket for groups of 10 or more.

The NWBL is a six-team league that features more than 25 active WNBA players. Other teams in the league include the Birmingham Power (Birmingham, Ala.); Dallas Fury (Carrollton, Texas); Chicago Blaze (Naperville, Ill.); San Jose Spiders (San Jose, Calif.) and Lubbock Hawks (Lubbock, Texas). For more information on the NWBL, visit the league website at www.triplecrownsports.com.

Colorado Chill Women’s Basketball – (970) 223-6644
Aaron M. Moore, General Manager

Chill, Fury square off tonight for NWBL title (Fort Collins Coloradoan, Friday, April 1, 2005)