INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Fever guard Shavonte Zellous has been named as a reserve for this weekend’s 2013 Boost Mobile WNBA All-Star Game, as announced this evening by the WNBA. Selected in voting by head coaches in respective conferences, Zellous was one of six All-Star reserves named to the East Team which will be coached by Fever coach Lin Dunn and her staff. For Zellous, it is her first All-Star honor. In her fifth WNBA season, her fourth in Indiana, she has emerged as one of the league’s top stars. She launched herself onto the national stage last season when she energized the Fever on its way to the WNBA championship by averaging 17 points per game in the WNBA Finals. This season, with the Fever roster wracked by injuries to eight different players, she has been one of the club’s biggest bright spots, scoring in double figures in every game and joining Tamika Catchings among league scoring leaders. Zellous and Chicago rookie Elena Delle Donne are the WNBA’s only players to score in double digits in every one of their team’s games this season. Zellous currently averages 15.8 points per game including a career-high 29 on June 8 vs. Phoenix. Zellous joins Dunn and Catchings, the East’s second-leading vote-getter and an All-Star starter for the eighth time, as Fever representatives in the midsummer classic which takes place Saturday, July 27 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. (3:30 p.m., ABC-TV). Dunn’s coaching staff also includes first-time All-Star participants Mickie DeMoss, Stephanie White and trainer Todd Champlin. Together, Catchings and Zellous have led the inspired Fever on a resurgent path following its early struggles and a 1-7 start. Indiana (7-8) has won six of its last seven games prior to Tuesday’s game with the New York Liberty. Should the Fever beat the Liberty to win 7 of 8 and take over third place in the East, they will become the first WNBA team since 2007 to completely reverse an 8-game stretch with seven losses, by winning seven of their next eight.
A WNBA playoff participant in eight straight seasons and nine times since 2002, the Indiana Fever became the champion of women’s professional basketball after defeating the Minnesota Lynx for the 2012 WNBA Championship. The Fever is the only team in WNBA history to record seven 20-win seasons during an 8-year span, a current streak that dates to 2005. During that time, the Fever has reached at least the Eastern Conference Finals five times while appearing in the WNBA Finals in 2009 and 2012. Indiana hosts the New York Liberty on Tuesday, July 23 (7:00 p.m.). For 2013 season ticket information, visit FeverBasketball.com or call (317) 917-2528. FeverBasketball.com
