Amy Jaeschke made her WNBA preseason debut Monday for the Chicago Sky against the Chinese national team, scoring 6 points on 3-for-6 shooting, with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 0 turnovers in just over 9 minutes. Not a bad line, though it came in an 84-45 blowout by the Sky, so it's hard to say how quality her minutes were.
As we've chronicled, Jaeschke, the first Wildcat ever to be taken in the WNBA draft, faces a tough battle to make the Sky roster, as it looks like she's battling fellow rookie Carolyn Swords to be the third center on the team. Swords also had a fine debut, playing 18 minutes and scoring 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting, with 8 rebounds.
You gotta figure that Swords has the inside edge at this point, given that she played twice as much as Jaeschke, and also given the fact that she was a 2nd round draft pick, while Jaeschke was a 3rd round pick. And if you practice Kremlinology, Swords got a mention in the official Sky game recap, while Jaeschke's name was nowhere to be found. Then again, projected second stringer Michelle Snow also didn't merit a mention after posting just 2 points in 15 minutes of action.
Assuming there are no roster cuts made in the next three days, Jaeschke and Swords will have one more preseason game to make their case, as the Sky travel to take on the Washington Mystics on Thursday. One potential wrinkle in this is that head coach Pokey Chatman did play incumbent starter Sylvia Fowles and Snow on the court together at times against China. If Chatman decides to go with a big lineup and likes having the double-post, then maybe that improves Jaeschke's chances ever so slightly of making the roster.