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Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson are the only two members of the WNBA's 5,000-Point Club.
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When the Houston Comets face the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday night at STAPLES Center, it will be the first meeting of the WNBA’s exclusive 5,000-Point Club.
The club has only two members – Lisa Leslie of the Sparks and Tina Thompson of the Comets – the two highest scoring players in league history at 5,702 and 5,148 points, respectively.
Leslie opened the 5,000-Point Club on June 25, 2006 with her first basket in a 41-point performance in a win over the San Antonio Silver Stars. Nearly two years to the day later, Leslie opened the 3,000-Rebound Club when she collected the last of her 11 rebounds in an overtime loss to the Washington Mystics on June 26, 2008.
Tina Thompson joined the 5,000-Point Club on June 6, 2008 when she sank a 10-foot jump shot from the baseline in a loss to the New York Liberty.
While Wednesday night's matchup will be the first time they have been on the same court since achieving the WNBA's top scoring milestone, sharing the floor is nothing new for this pair of legends.
The Southern California natives both attended Morningside High School in Inglewood, California, where they were teammates during the 1989-90 season. Leslie's senior season at Morningside was Thompson's freshman season and the pair combined to lead the Monarchs to the 1990 California state championship.
Leslie would go on to star at the University of Southern California and Thompson soon followed as they teamed up again during the 1993-94 season for the Women of Troy. While at USC, Leslie and Thompson were each selected to three All-America teams and finished their careers with 2,414 and 2,248 career points, respectively. Leslie, who was named the Naismith National Player of the Year in 1994, had her jersey retired at USC in 2006.
Leslie and Thompson have been rivals throughout their years in the WNBA, but have teamed up on numerous Western Conference All-Star teams – Leslie is a seven-time All-Star, while Thompson is a five-time All-Star. They have also played together in international competition for USA Basketball and will do so again next month as they were both named to the 2008 U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team.
Thompson and Leslie teamed up to win gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The medal count would have been higher had it not been for injuries suffered by Thompson, which prevented her from playing for the 1998 and 2002 World Championship teams after being named to each team. Leslie is attempting to capture her fourth gold medal at this year's Olympics, which would match Teresa Edwards for the most gold medals in Olympic play for a women's basketball player.
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