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Originally Published: August 19, 2009

Lyttle does a lot for Dream

By Mechelle Voepel
ESPN.com



Scott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty Images
Sancho Lyttle, who first played hoops as a prep senior, is averaging 13.3 ppg, 7.6 rpg and 2.1 spg.

Asked how she has made the journey from the Caribbean to the WNBA, Sancho Lyttle says it's partly because she's a "sponge" … while giving her mom much of the credit for the rest.

A 6-foot-4 center in her fifth WNBA season but first with the Atlanta Dream, Lyttle was named the Eastern Conference player of the week Monday for her performance in two victories the previous week. Named to the East All-Star team in July, Lyttle is one of those players who doesn't just say she's learning new things all the time. She really is.

"I think that I've grown a lot since I've been in the WNBA," Lyttle said. "But I still have so much to learn, and I'm always trying to pick up little pointers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

"I am such a sponge. I try to change up some things to make me be able to play the game so it's a little easier."

What she means, really, is that she's finding ways to do things more smoothly and efficiently. Those are the refinements all professional players make, but in Lyttle's case they are coming after she had more of a crash course in learning the sport than did most of her peers.

Lyttle is from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, located in the West Indies and also the homeland of San Antonio's Sophia Young. Neither of them grew up playing much basketball, the way many girls in the United States do. Instead, they played netball, a game that is somewhat like basketball -- there's a ball and a net, anyway -- and is popular in the West Indies, among other places.


[+] EnlargeScott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty ImagesWest Indies native Sancho Lyttle arrived in Atlanta by way of Clarendon JC, D-I Houston and the Houston Comets.

They were on a national team together for netball for a while. Then Young's path differed from Lyttle's. Young came to the United States to finish high school, and thus got a chance to play basketball here before attending college at Baylor, where she won a national championship.

Lyttle played some basketball when she was a high school senior, then came to the United States to attend Clarendon Junior College in Texas. At that point, she was just playing on sheer natural ability, having had little instruction about the sport. But she was a quick learner. After two years of Division I basketball at Houston, she stayed put as she was drafted in 2005 by the Comets.

With each pro season, she gained more skills and confidence. Last year, Lyttle averaged 8.2 points and 6.2 rebounds for Houston. The franchise disbanded after the season, and Lyttle moved on to Atlanta in the dispersal draft.

"The only change is that I'm away from people I knew for six years," she said of moving from Houston to Atlanta. "I had more people to rely on and talk to in Houston, where here it's more just me. But it's been pretty easy for me, because I'm used to that. I've had three years of going overseas to play."

In Atlanta, Lyttle definitely has found a good home on court. She's having her best season in the WNBA, averaging 13.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.1 steals. And she has been well-matched inside with center Erika de Souza and forward Chamique Holdsclaw.

"When I first started, I was a '5' player with my back to the basket, so everything that I did was from there," Lyttle said. "And then every year, different coaches put me in different spots, so I kept getting further from the basket. Now, I'm playing more as a 4, and so there's always something new for me to learn.

"My game is changing a lot -- I can still post up, but now I've got to shoot more, flash more. The learning curve is still going to be there every year."

Lyttle goes back home whenever she can, always eager to see her family and friends. She said because of the WNBA's Web casts, they all watch as many of her games as possible.

"This year, they've followed me more," she said. "And after every game, somebody calls me to say, 'You didn't do this or that. You didn't box out, you didn't rebound.'"

Then Lyttle laughs, adding, "And I say, 'OK, can you all just watch the game?' I get a lot of advice."

The best, though, came years ago from her mother, Evelyn. She didn't just tell Sancho to try new activities. She insisted upon it.

"As a kid, I didn't always want to do things, but she's the one who put me into track, for instance," Lyttle said. "She told me, 'Don't come back until you try it.' She wanted me to try every sport that I thought I could do. And so I tried everything I could.

"My mom kept pushing me, and I know it was to keep me away from trouble. She's the one I have to thank from the beginning."

Lyttle thinks track in particular aided her with some aspects of basketball, especially in being more graceful as a tall player.

"I think running track helped my athletic ability," she said. "It helped with footwork, with not being too clumsy. And it helps with stamina, because you do things maybe that at first you think you can't do. What I'm doing now started from track."

Atlanta is 13-11 and in the East logjam with Connecticut, Chicago and Washington behind leader Indiana. Lyttle knows it's going to be a tough race to the finish for a playoff spot, but the Dream have been very successful in the past month.

Since July 22, Atlanta has won six of seven games, the only loss being by two points to Chicago.

"We're playing well, but since everybody is so close to each other, we have to keep it up," she said.

Lyttle hasn't kept in touch much with Young, but she does see the impact their success in basketball is having back home.

"We didn't have organization in a basketball community growing up," Lyttle said. "We got to [play in college] just because of our talent. Now girls at home are seeing basketball as a way out to something better.

"To have two Caribbean people in the WNBA both from Saint Vincent has inspired more girls to learn to play basketball and get an opportunity."

Mechelle Voepel, a regular contributor to ESPN.com, can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com. Read her blog at Mechelle Voepel.

Sancho Lyttle does a lot for WNBA's Atlanta Dream - ESPN