ESPN ARTICLE: RISING WAUTERS

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SAN ANTONIO -- The Silver Stars pretty much have to win Friday night's Game 2 of the WNBA Finals (ESPN2, 7:30 p.m. ET) to have any realistic chance at the championship. But whatever happens, this season already has been a big victory for Ann Wauters.

She came back to the WNBA after two seasons away and has loved being in San Antonio.

"I played in Cleveland and New York. And not to say anything bad about those teams, but this has been the place where I've been enjoying it the most," Wauters said. "Everything, of course, starts on the court. I've been able to adapt quickly with this team, and I have great teammates. And the whole coaching staff has been wonderful."

Wauters, a native of Belgium, came to the WNBA in 2000 when she was just 19 years old. By that point, she'd already been playing professionally in France for two years.

San Antonio's Dan Hughes, who was then the coach at Cleveland, saw tape of her playing when she was still just a teenager and immediately called one of his Rockers assistants.

"And I said, 'Here she is. Here's a player we want,' " Hughes said. "She's got an array of offensive moves; she'd be a pretty good player even if she wasn't the size she is. Defensively, she understands rotations. She always helps your team a lot in so many ways."

Wauters is 6 feet, 4 inches, and just laughs when asked where she came by her basketball talent. Neither her parents nor anyone else in her family played the sport. Her formative years, she was on a club team that only practiced a couple of times a week. She really had no plan back then for basketball to be her meal ticket, let alone give her the chance to travel around the world.

But it has. After three seasons in Cleveland (a now defunct franchise), she didn't compete in the WNBA in 2003. She played in 13 games for New York in 2004, then a full season in 2005. She didn't come to the WNBA in 2006 or '07.

She has played the last four years in Russia, and plans to return there this year. As for her decision to rejoin the WNBA, that was both timing and circumstance.

Belgium did not make the 2008 Olympic field, so she did not have national-team duties this summer. Plus, after the time away from the WNBA, she wanted to experience that level of play again.

"This is the toughest league in the world, and it's that competition and the chance to work with such great people and coaches that makes you better," she said. "It's been really exciting to play here and to make the finals for the first time in my career.

"That was also one of my goals in coming here: not just to play, but really have some results."

When Wauters came to the WNBA, she had the expected adjustment issues in regard to getting used to more physical play.

"The strategy against her used to be you were physical with her and move her off the block," Hughes said. "That's still the case, but she deals with it so much better now. She's evolved from the standpoint of taking on physical players.

"She's physically stronger now, and she's added more range to her face-up game. She's always been a very bright player and a mobile player. She's always been a good teammate."

Detroit's Taj McWilliams-Franklin remembers first playing against a teen-aged Wauters over in Europe.

"I really enjoy watching her play -- except against us," McWilliams-Franklin said. "Because she has great fundamentals, great hands and she works really, really hard."

San Antonio's Becky Hammon, who previously competed with Wauters in New York before they became WNBA teammates again for the Silver Stars, also pointed out work ethic.

"She's an absolute gym rat," Hammon said. "Her individual work has stepped her game up. She's naturally gifted and talented, and it's an advantage to be [6-4] and able to run the floor like she does. But she's also worked on every area of her game, and it shows."

Wauters, who averaged 14.7 points and 7.5 rebounds in this regular season, isn't sure what her plans will be for next year. As much as she has enjoyed playing in San Antonio and likes life in the United States, she worries about the toll on her body of competing year-round. She'll be 28 on Oct. 12. That's still quite young, but remember she has been a pro for a decade already.

"When I look back, I know that first year [in Cleveland] was the toughest of my career," she said. "To come here by myself, very young, didn't know what to expect at all. It was hard for my family letting me go to an unknown world. My parents didn't play basketball; they weren't in that competitive kind of world. They really weren't sure what they were sending their daughter to.

"And it was tough with the physical game; I wasn't used to that. Everything was really new. But, of course, it all helped me to grow and become a much better player. And now, coming to San Antonio, I can say only good things about my whole experience here. "

Mechelle Voepel of The Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com.