Leilani Mitchell Steps Up for a Perfect Game

What to say about the new trade from Phoenix?

Dubbed “little” Leilani Mitchell, there wasn’t much little about her tonight. Shooting perfect at 6-6 and scoring a career high of 18 points, the 5-5 guard was outstanding.

Replacing an injured Loree Moore, Mitchell also had 7 assists and only 2 turnovers in an 81-73 win over the Houston Comets.

The Libs improved to 3-3 with the first two-game win streak of the season.

“Not bad for a rookie debut,” said Liberty coach Pat Coyle. “Gee whiz.”

Moore was scratched due to back spasms and is listed as day-to-day. After Mitchell, the youngest of six children and the only girl, was told about an hour and a half before the game that she’d be starting, Moore had a message for her teammate.

“This is your chance,” Moore said. “This is your chance to show people.”

Mitchell has been making the most of her chances. Despite her great prep career, most Division I women’s programs weren’t convinced the diminutive distributor could play at the highest level. But after three strong seasons at Idaho (she owns the school record with 323 steals), she transferred to Utah, hoping to catch the eye of a WNBA team. Phoenix took her with the 25th pick. She impressed the Liberty with her play in a pre-season scrimmage and when New York learned the Mercury was going to release Mitchell, they shipped a third round pick in next year’s draft to Phoenix. This would generally be referred to as a steal.