WNBA Ford leading candidate for rookie of year

The Detroit Shock standout doesn't like to be compared to her father, Karl Malone.
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Call her one of the best young talents in the WNBA. Call her the leading candidate for WNBA Rookie of the Year. Call her one of the reasons the Detroit Shock have clinched a playoff berth and have the league's best record.
Just don't call Cheryl Ford Karl Malone's daughter.
"The questions about her dad are relentless and the sad part is it doesn't go away," Detroit Shock coach Bill Laimbeer said. "OK, it was a story, move on. She was raised by her mother and by her perspective she wants to become her own basketball player and just known as Cheryl Ford."
And she is doing everything she can to draw attention to her play.
After being the third pick of the WNBA draft this season, she is averaging a near double-double of 9.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. She is the second-best rebounder in the WNBA, trailing only Washington Mystics forward Chamique Holdsclaw.
Rewriting record books
She already is on her way toward rewriting the record books as a rookie as well. Going into the weekend, Ford was only one rebound away from breaking Tamika Catchings' WNBA rookie record of 276 rebounds in a season. She will break Yolanda Griffith's overall league record of 357 rebounds if she maintains her 10.6 rpg average.
"I didn't think I could play at this level at first," Ford said. "But when I got here and got adjusted from the college game to the pro level, I saw the same players I competed against at [the college level]. That is when I knew I could play here and that became my goal."
Other candidates for rookie of the year honors include Indiana's Coretta Brown (7 ppg, 1.4 rpg), Minnesota's Teresa Edwards (5.7 ppg, 4.6 assists per game) San Antonio's Gwen Jackson (9.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg), Sacramento's Kara Lawson (7.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg), Phoenix's Plenette Pierson (5.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg) and Cleveland's LaToya Thomas (10.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg).
Named to All-Star team
Ford's impressive numbers earned her a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team, but at the game she found herself being surrounded by reporters ready to talk to her about her dad instead of the great play that got her there.
"It is very annoying because when I went to college [at Louisiana Tech, where Malone also attended] everyone was comparing me to him all the time," she said. "Then when I got into the [WNBA], everyone was comparing me to him all the time. I've learned to deal with it, but I'm just sick of the same questions."