Former University of Florida women’s basketball greats DeLisha Milton-Jones, Vanessa Hayden and Bridget Pettis, as well as former Gator head coach Carol Ross, begin their run at a WNBA championship, as their respective teams play their first-round games either Wednesday or Thursday night.

Milton-Jones and Hayden are members of the Los Angeles Sparks squad that enters the postseason as the No. 3 in the Western Conference. The Sparks play host to the Seattle Storm, the No. 2 seed in the West, on Wednesday beginning at 10 p.m. ET, with the opening game of the three-game series televised live from the STAPLES Center on ESPN2.

Milton-Jones, who starred for the Gators from 1993-97, enters the playoffs averaging 10.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2. assists per game. She has started all 33 regular-season games she has played, averaging 31.6 minutes of court time. Hayden, who ran the floor for the Gator orange & blue from 2000-04, contributes 3.8 points and 2.7 rebounds.

Pettis played for the Gators from 1991-93 and still holds the program record with eight three-pointers in a game, was a nine-year WNBA veteran playing the majority of the time in Phoenix, retired during the 2006 season and became an assistant coach with the Mercury, helping them win the 2007 WNBA Championship. Pettis is still on the sidelines in Phoenix, which earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and plays at San Antonio Thursday in US Airways Center at 7 p.m. in the opening round.

Ross guided the Florida for 12 years and resigned following the 2002 season as the winningest coach in program history, is in her first year as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Dream. She aided the club’s remarkable turn-around, posting a 4-30 record last year in the team’s debut season, to this year’s 18-16 record and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Dream open their playoff march Wednesday at the No. 3 seeded and defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock at The Palace of Auburn Hills with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and will be televised by ESPN2.

-UF-