June 4, 2001
Former University of Denver basketball star, Michaela Pavlickova (Prague, Czech Republic/Boulder HS) has secured a position on the final roster of the WNBA's Utah Starzz.
The 24th overall pick in the WNBA draft, Pavlickova a 6-3 forward earned her place on the roster after attending training camp and playing in three exhibition games. Pavlickova saw three minutes of action in her first regular-season game as a professional vs. the Phoenix Mercury.
"Misa is a really good, quality player who works very hard," Starzz coach Fred Williams said. "She is a strong post player with great outside shooting. She's very physical and runs the floor extremely well in transition play. She had a solid and strong college career and above all, she brings a competitive attitude."
"I am very excited to make the team," Pavlickova said. "I wasn't sure I was going to make the team because coach Williams had to cut five players. He said he was going to do what was best for the team and I didn't know if that meant me."
"I like the team and the coaches here, we run similar offenses and transition sets as we did at Denver. The biggest difference playing the WNBA is that all of the players are so much more experienced. They are stronger and taller in the post too.
"The hardest thing about playing for the Utah Starzz was learning to play with new people. I had to adjust to how my new teammates play, what they do in different situations, where they pass me the ball and other things like that. Every day of practice I learn more about my teammates and I really enjoy playing with this group."
At Denver, Pavlickova was named honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press and fifth team by the Women's Basketball Journal. She was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and a unanimous selection to the all-conference team as well as the Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament Team. Pavlickova helped the Pioneers win the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference and finish as the runner-up to No. 8 La Tech in the conference tournament.
As a senior, Pavlickova led the Pioneers in scoring (17.5), rebounding (9.5), blocked shots (2.1) and field goal percentage (51.9) and ranked 19th in the nation in blocked shots. She scored in double figures in 29 of 30 games during her senior campaign and notched nine double-doubles. She finished her Denver career as the sixth-leading scorer in school history with 1,455 points and ranks among the school's leaders in more than 12 categories. Denver earned its first ever berth in the Division I NCAA Tournament and school-record-tying 24 (24-6) wins in 2001.
