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Hapoel Tel Aviv Signed Helen Darling
Lior Klinger
,12/29/2006 |
Hapoel Tel Aviv signed the Charlotte Sting's starting point guard, Helen Darling. Darling is a mother of triplets, and is a true point guard with 6-years of WNBA experience but has never played in Europe.
Hapoel Tel Aviv didn't release Tamicha Jackson in order to bring in a post, quite the contrary. Hapoel decided to go with a point guard, but a real one this time. Darling is pretty much the complete opposite to TJ. Helen Darling (5'6, 28) is a classic floor general, an intelligent player that makes good decisions. She is a leader, a pass first type of point guard, very unselfish and a savvy defender.
Darling was the 17th overall pick in the 2000 WNBA draft by Cleveland. She stayed there for four seasons, though she sat out the entire 2002 season due to pregnancy. Darling gave birth to two boys and a girl on April 13th 2002. She was back in Rockers uniform the following season, and also won the WNBA's community assist award for months of work with children in the Ohio area. In 2004 Darling was traded to the Minnesota Lynx, and in the last two seasons she played for Charlotte. This summer she averaged 5.4 points and 2.8 assists in 20.9 minutes per game. She played in Charlotte with Monique Currie, Jia Perkins and Tasha Butts.
Darling has never played professionally outside of the US, she played one year in the NWBL, spent a season as an assistant coach at the University of Memphis and worked in the Sting's front office. She is set to arrive in Israel early next week.
Darling is a Penn State graduate, same college Tanisha Wright went to. Darling was named Big-10 Player of the Year as a senior after leading the NCAA in assists per game, she averaged 12.4 points, 7.8 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game. She was named to the All-Big 10 1st Team in her last two seasons, and served as the team's captain. The biggest moment of her career was the upset over #1 seed Louisiana Tech to advance to the 1st ever Final Four in Penn State history in 2000. Tamicha Jackson, Betty Lennox and Cheryl Ford played on that Techsters team.
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