What They're Saying

The face of women's basketball has changed drastically since the emergence of the WNBA in 1997. Adam Zagoria introduces us to one emerging face in the story of Nicole Louden in She's Got Handle. It is a behind-the-scenes look at a girl's love for her sport and the growth both she and the game experience.
   I will follow Nicole's career with keen interest and look forward to playing with her one day on the floor of Madison Square Garden.
-Rebecca Lobo
New York Liberty

Zagoria has handle, too. This gritty, clear-eyed yet compassionate story is the "Hoop Dreams" of the twenty-first century.
- Robert Lipsyte
The New York Times

With affection, stamina, and ever-open eyes, Adam Zagoria chronicles Nicole Louden's perilous journey from city streets to the Auburn campus in this book, which does for Paterson, N.J., what The Last Shot did for Coney Island. She's Got Handle is as much a tale of faith, persistence, drama, immigration, and urban life as it is a sports story, and it includes as good an account of the recruiting process as any I've read.
- Alexander Wolff
Sports Illustrated, Author of Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure

Filled with sass and insight, Adam Zagoria's She's Got Handle is a welcome addition to the growing canon of literature on women and sport.
- Madeleine Blais
Author of In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle

In his first venture onto the literary court, Adam Zagoria has nailed a stunning three-pointer -- offering depth, clarity, and insight -- with She's Got Handle.
   Just as Dawn Staley emerged from the inner city of Philadelphia a decade ago to become an Olympic gold medalist, a pro star, and, perhaps, a successful collegiate coach, Nicole Louden appears to be traveling the same track, but at a time when the stakes in women's basketball have become much higher with greater pressures on the aspirant.
   This is a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the nature of collegiate recruiting brought to life as well as potentially introducing us to a future women's hoops personality in the new millennium.
- Mel Greenberg
The Philadelphia Inquirer

To read Adam Zagoria's insightful and important book about one girl's journey into big-time, big-stakes basketball is to be reminded of the aphorism that goes, "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it." By following a gifted and reflective young player named Nicole Louden, Zagoria shows a reader the human side of the boom in women's sports. Title IX has given girls like Nicole opportunities their foremothers would have envied, but also the pressures from coaches, recruiters, camps, and corporate sponsors that have so sullied the men's game. She's Got Handle is sports journalism with a social conscience, in the tradition of Rick Telander and Darcy Frey.
- Samuel G. Freedman
Author of Upon This Rock

For anyone who has ever wondered how an athlete develops courage, confidence, toughness, and resiliency, or thinks that the world of college recruiting is a fantasyland of entertainment, or wants to know how an athlete learns to handle physical and mental stress and the pressure to perform, She's Got Handle is a must-read. If you love sport, top-notch writing, and want sport participation to make kids better, She's Got Handle will give you all the hope and disappointment you'll ever need."
-Donna A. Lopiano, Ph.D.
executive director, Women's Sports Foundation