WNBA Rookies Watch – The Last Half of the Regular Season.

Hi everyone! Welcome back. We have now begun the last half of the regular season and it is now time for a Week 6 update of the WNBA Rookies Watch. You can view the fifth week of WNBA Rookie Watch here.

WNBA Rookies Watch – The Midpoint of the WNBA Season

*Note – This WNBA rookie watch will be updated every two weeks instead of every week. This is because in the WNBA, there are a limited number of roster spots and so rookies have to compete with veterans/star players for spots. A majority of them either get cut, get limited minutes or need time to get adjusted. Their minutes will vary from game to game, opponent to opponent. It will be hard to find consistent minutes and so it won’t be easy to judge rookies on a week to week basis. I’m updating this every two weeks so that I have several games and data(!) to work with.

1. Aliyah Boston – Indiana Fever

My oh my! Aliyah Boston bounced back from the previous two weeks to be the top rookie for Week 6. She was simply incredible. She averaged 18.8 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game and 2.8 assists per game. She put up two double-doubles against Atlanta on the road and at home versus Minnesota. Her team, the Indiana Fever played against two of the top three teams in the WNBA, the Connecticut Sun and the New York Liberty. They lost both of them but she shined in both of them. She put up 19 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assists versus Connecticut and scored 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists versus New York. She also shot 70% in that game.

2. Diamond Miller – Minnesota Lynx

Diamond Miller continues to remain steady as the season continues for the Minnesota Lynx. These past two weeks, she struggled shooting the ball as she shot less than 35% in the three games they played. Her scoring dropped a bit but she still plays heavy minutes for the Lynx. She averaged 7.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game during these past two weeks. It was rough but she still remains one of the top rookies this season along with Boston.

3. Zia Cooke – Los Angeles Sparks

Zia Cooke makes an appearance in this week’s WNBA Rookies Watch because she was able to help out her team, the LA Sparks these past two weeks. Her team went 3-1 during that time and Cooke was able to continue being a contributor off the bench as she averaged 7.75 points per game. Her two best games came against the Washington Mystics in which the Sparks went 1-1 on the road. She scored 10 points in both of them and shot 57.1% from the field and 50% from three in one game and 40% from three in the other game.

4. Jordan Horston – Seattle Storm

Jordan Horston continues to help out the Seattle Storm in her rookie season. She averaged 4.75 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. Her team played against the Connecticut Sun and she finished the game with 9 points, 2 rebounds and shot 50% from three. Even though she struggled shooting from the field against the Atlanta Dream in which she shot 16.7%, she finished the game with 4 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks. She continues to remain effective and a key contributor when she is on the floor.

5. Maddy Siegrist – Dallas Wings

Look who’s back in the WNBA Rookie Watch! Maddy Siegrist! Maddy Siegrist was a contributor for the Dallas Wings these past two weeks. She averaged 6.2 points and 3 rebounds per game during that time. Her best game came against the Chicago Sky in which she finished with 10 points, 3 rebounds and shot 83% from three. In the next game which was against the top team in the WNBA, the Las Vegas Aces, she finished with 9 points, 3 rebounds and shot 50% from the field as well as from three. She’s shown her ability to help out the team when she’s been given playing time.

That wraps up this week’s WNBA Rookies Watch. We are now in the last half of the regular season in which WNBA teams are trying to get into the playoffs so there should be some good games coming up. The next WNBA Rookies Watch will be out on August 31st.