JERKISHA AND JERMISHA DOSTY ARE TWIN SISTERS TRYING TO GO PRO
TOGETHER - By Lina Balciunas

Let's say you're a WNBA team that needs some size in the post, a
player who's an aggressive rebounder with a solid outside shot. Well
then, St. Mary's College of California has just the player for you.
Her name is Dosty, Jerkisha Dosty. Or wait, was that Jermisha? Oh
boy, here we go again.

After spending last year's pre-draft camp trying to distinguish
between Georgia's Kelly and Coco Miller, the WNBA coaches were at it
once more with the Dosty twins. Jerkisha is listed as a 6-2 forward
with Jermisha a center at 6-3, but that inch isn't overly discernible
even when they're standing together, much less playing separately.
Beyond that, there are few other differences between the sisters.

Jerkisha averaged 12.1 points and 6.7 rebounds at St. Mary's while
Jermisha averaged 11.6 points and 9.0 rebounds. Jerkisha earned West
Coast Conference Player of the Year honors in 2002 after her sister
received the award in 2001. Jerkisha led the conference in scoring as
a senior (17.9 ppg) and Jermisha left as its all-time leading
rebounder (1,121). There is hardly an award or statistical
achievement in the WCC that doesn't have the name "Dosty" next to it.

"When the freshmen come in, they can't tell us apart at all and so
we'll trick them," Jermisha says. "Like 'Kisha will say, 'here pass
me the ball' and they'll pass the ball to the wrong person, the wrong
teammate. They cannot tell us apart so we play little jokes on them,
making fun of them."

The Bellflower, Calif. natives led tiny St. Mary's College to its
first ever NCAA Tournament berth in 1999 and subsequently, its first
win at the Big Dance as the Gaels beat Texas in 2001 before losing to
Tennessee in the second round.

"That was big for us because we're so small and it hadn't happened
before," Jerkisha says in listing the victory as one of her proudest
accomplishments.

The sisters lived together in the dorms their freshman season and
then separately for two years before moving off campus together as
seniors. They've still always had each other right there, as friends
and as teammates, but both say they have no problem with splitting up
to play in the WNBA.

"I'm excited because we've always played on the same team," Jerkisha
says. "Obviously it's going to be different and it's going to be
weird at first, but we'll have fun. It will be a new experience."

When asked if they ever play one-on-one against each other, the
answer is "all the time." When asked who wins, Jermisha pipes up
immediately, "I do!" Jerkisha waits, smiles and echoes firmly, "I
do." Jermisha says she has a spin move that ends in a hook shot,
which she can hit against her sister's defense every time. Jerkisha
says her own success is just a matter of shooting over Jermisha --
any shot will do. The two laugh in tandem.

"It's just having a best friend who's always around," Jermisha
explains the benefits of being a twin. "We get a lot of attention,
too, so that's cool."

They certainly did a pre-draft camp, with Jermisha averaging 4.4
points and 4.6 rebounds while Jerkisha put up 4.2 ppg and 1.4 rpg.
One game in which they played against each other, Jermisha scored
eight points and grabbed seven boards and Jerkisha nearly matched her
with eight points and five boards.

Minnesota's Brian Agler is a WNBA coach definitely interested in the
Dosty twins, but even he couldn't say which one he'd pick.

As for the Dostys' parents, who have attended every one of their
daughters' games from Del Campo High School in Sacramento to St.
Mary's College, having both Jerkisha and Jermisha playing in the WNBA
will present quite a dilemma.

"They're a little bit nervous about us being on different teams
because we've always been together," Jermisha says. "They're still
going to try to go to our games -- they'll split up and try to attend
all of our games. It will be different."

You can forgive them for being nervous, because when it comes to the
Dosty twins, differences are few and far between.