Who recorded the first assist in WNBA history?

Years from now, sports fans with sharp memories will tell you it was Jamila Wideman of the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA opener against New York.

What they probably won't remember is that Wideman was merely a 21-year-old rookie, one week removed from her college graduation, when she made league history.

That's because Wideman doesn't play like a rookie and never has.

This summer you can catch a glimpse of Wideman on the court, running the Sparks' offense and harassing opposing point guards with her tenacious defense. But that's just what she does when the game clock is running. When the ball's not in play is when the 5-foot-6 Stanford University grad really goes to work.

Just watch Wideman for five minutes and you're guaranteed to get dizzy. She races to the sideline for quick instructions during a dead ball; she gathers her teammates around her and barks out orders in huddles. Wideman's the first one to help a fallen teammate off the floor or chase down a loose ball. She'll pat a teammate on the back, or get in their ear, and she always seems to know which is called for.

Her basketball knowledge comes from years of being a team leader. As a skinny, little seventh grader, Wideman earned a starting spot on the Amherst Regional High School team and was the team's point guard for six straight seasons. Her high school career was topped off with a state championship in her senior year, as chronicled in the best-selling book In These Girls Hope Is A Muscle, and a scholarship to Stanford.

She then proceeded to become a four-year captain at one of the most successful collegiate programs in the country and guided the Cardinal to three straight Final Fours. This season, she earned NCAA West Regional MVP honors while becoming only the third player in Stanford history to garner over 500 assists.

Wideman is still very close to her Cardinal teammates. At a recent Sparks home game, five women looking very much like Stanford players could be spotted wearing white T-shirts with black letters that spelled out "G-O J-A-M."

But now that her professional career is underway, Wideman is determined to do the one thing she failed to do in college -- win a championship. To accomplish that, Wideman and her cohorts will have to overcome the shaky play they have displayed in their early games. Coming into the season, Los Angeles was billed as possibly the most talented team in the WNBA, but the Sparks have struggled to stay near .500.

So far, turnovers have been a big problem for the Sparks, and that's where Wideman may be LA's biggest asset. Her assists outnumber her turnovers by a phenomenal ratio of 2.5-to-1, but without Wideman, the team has a negative ratio in that department.

When the Sparks are successful, it's usually because Wideman is controlling her team's tempo and its offense, a role that she feels is definitely her responsibility.

"As the point guard you have to have that role, that respect," Wideman said. "It's something that's developed over time. At first it was hard because I wasn't around all the time and it was hard to have a consistent presence. As the games have gone on it's kind of naturally developed, and I see that as something that's still improving."

It didn't help that the first weeks of practice coincided with final exams at Stanford. Wideman was commuting from Palo Alto to Los Angeles before finally graduating just six days before her first game.

"Not only was it time-consuming, but totally exhausting," Wideman said. "I didn't do anything but travel, study and play basketball for those three weeks. It was stressful, but I really wanted to finish up and graduate on time."

Wideman now says the whole process was worth it and she's excited to be playing in the WNBA. However, the concept of being a pro is still difficult for her to grasp. She quickly laughs when you call her a "professional athlete." But Wideman is keenly aware of her position in women's basketball and the importance of her first season in the pros.

When questioned about the rivalry between the WNBA and the ABL, Wideman said,"I hope there comes a point where we can see beyond the divisions that exist between the two leagues. There's a power among the players to make both leagues a good extension of the game, but there are lots of pressures coming from the outside that are destructive to both leagues."

For now, Wideman will try to block out those pressures and concentrate on winning a championship.