Former Stanford University center Kristen Newlin has been added to the Indiana Fever roster. A third-round pick (34th overall) by Houston in the 2007 WNBA Draft, the 6-5 Newlin joined the Indiana team in Seattle where it played its preseason finale on Saturday night.
Newlin was waived by the Comets last year, and played overseas in Turkey during the 2007-08 winter. She was signed by the Phoenix Mercury for training camp this spring, and was released after one preseason game.
She joins a short-handed Fever club which has four players still overseas and three others who did not travel with the team last weekend. Those not traveling to Seattle included All-Star forward Tamika Catchings who continues her rehabilitation of injuries sustained in 2007, and veteran guard Tully Bevilaqua who played five brief minutes in the May 7 preseason loss to Minnesota — only 24 hours after arriving in Indianapolis after two weeks with the Australian National Team in Australia and China. A third inactive player was rookie forward Khadijah Whittington, who participated in commencement exercises at North Carolina State University.
The Fever’s 17-player roster includes 10 active players, of which just three are returning players from Indiana’s 2007 Eastern Conference Finals team. Veteran free agent Allison Feaster arrived in Indianapolis last week and made her preseason Fever debut at Seattle.
Indiana’s regular season opener is May 17 at Conseco Fieldhouse against the Washington Mystics beginning at 7 p.m.
Led by WNBA All-Stars Catchings, Katie Douglas and Tammy Sutton-Brown, the Fever bids for its first WNBA Finals appearance after reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in two of the past three seasons.
Season tickets are available at FeverBasketball.com or by calling (317) 917-2500.
