Back on the hardwood

After spending two years with the Washington Mystics of the WNBA, former Hernando High basketball star Bernice Mosby got a lesson in how pro sports are run.
After playing in two exhibition games this year for the Mystics, Mosby was cut by the team before the start of the regular season.
But on July 7, Mosby was again signed by the Mystics and resumed what she does best, playing basketball.
Mosby, who played her college ball at the University of Florida and Baylor, was a first-round pick of the Mystics in 2007. Then after two campaigns coming off the bench, Mosby was the last cut this year as the WNBA cut the size of team rosters from 12 to 11.
"I think it was unfortunate for the league because our training camp was very competitive," said Mosby about the league cutting the roster.
"I think it was just a matter of numbers," she said about being let go by the Mystics. "I stayed in D.C. and worked for the team as an intern. I helped out with media relations and around the office. I also worked out every day with my trainer, but there was never a point where I didn't think I would play again."
Mosby, who is the career leading scorer for girls in Hernando County with 2,163 points, got very little playing time off the bench in her first two years in the WNBA.
"I'm more comfortable with the style of play we have now," she said. "We're more of a run-and-gun team and I'm more of an open-court player."
Mosby averaged 3.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 2007, and 2.0 points and 2.2 rebounds a game last year.
But last year, Mosby got the chance to play pro ball in France and made the most of the opportunity as she averaged 16.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game.
"I played one year in Greece, but I got injured early during the season and I had to come back home," said the former Lady Leopard.
"This year I played with Arras and it was great. I got to play a lot and we had a really good year. I also loved being in France," she said.
The one problem that came from her short stay off the roster was explaining it to her mother, Gloria Jean Brown of Brooksville.
"She really felt bad for me when I got cut by the Mystics," said Mosby. "But when they re-signed me, she was real happy, yelling and hollering."
Mosby also believes that she needs to improve her own game.
"Everybody in this league is getting better and that's what I have to keep doing," she noted. "But I think it's going to work out."
She also said that living in Washington for the last three years was an adjustment.
"I love it now, but it was so huge when I first got here, me being from a small town," admitted the 6-foot-2 Mosby. "But I really like it now."
After this season, Mosby has plans to again play in Europe, but with something of a catch.
In her Baylor biography, it says that Mosby has plans to be a runway model and fashion designer, which is where playing ball in Milan, Italy comes into play.
"This fall I'm going to Milan, which is great," she said. "I'm also taking an internship with a fashion designer there and it will work out great for me.
"Maybe I'll even turn up in a fashion magazine," she said with a big laugh.