SAN FRANCISCO (NNPA)�The WNBA is immersed in its fifth playoff season.

With talk focusing on the league�s new champion, its most valuable player and the rumor that Cynthia Cooper is keeping the door open for a possible return as a player, the WNBA has pleasantly surprised its audience with its competitive play and is quietly shedding the image of a minor league.

It has been nearly 30 years since Congress passed legislation that provides the educational reforms, which included Title IX, a law that changed the face of women�s sports forever.

Title IX required that federally funded schools provide equal athletic resources for both men and women and, as a result, more women are playing more sports, more seriously, today than ever before. The creation of the WNBA is a direct result of this impressive trend.

All women wanted was a chance to show their stuff, and it seems to be paying off this year in the WNBA.

In 200l, the major women�s professional basketball league in the world symbolizes fitness, efficiency and ability. It has shown greater balance among its teams and it continues to develop new stars. But, most importantly, it is displaying professional growth.

Although the WNBA�s image has not rivaled that of the NBA, even as the NBA shows signs of decline, the image of the WNBA is that of a league that will do anything to put people in seats, a league with the ability to play with a passion that used to be the hallmark of its big brother.

Overall, attendance is up. Many teams have had many sellouts. Lisa Leslie, an anchor of the league since its inceptions, became the WNBA�s career scoring leader, while leading the L.A. Sparks to the best record in the league, including l8 straight victories.

The play of rookies Marie Ferdinand (Utah Starzz), Nadine Malcolm and Niele Ivey (Indiana Fever), Tammy Sutton-Brown (Charlotte Sting) and the finesse and power of Yolanda Griffith (Sacramento Monarchs), who remains the class of the league, are but a few of the highlights that the league has brought to the public this season.

As the playoffs advance, observers are watching Ms. Leslie and her Sparks display the look of determination as they inch closer to the next championship of the WNBA, and prove that their 56-8 regular-season record and the dispatching of the Houston Comets is no fluke.

Watch the faces of the New York Liberty with Teresa Weatherspoon and Tara Phillips, a team that has been to the finals more than any other (with the exception of the Houston Comets) display frustration because the Liberty continues to be unable "to get over the hump."

We should watch the faces of the Sacramento Monarchs, with Griffith and Ruthie Holifield-Bolton, as they display bliss as one of the elite teams of the WNBA.

We should watch the faces of the Charlotte Sting, with Dawn Staley and Andrea Stinson, who have shown remarkable turnaround in their play, as they display courage.

And for the other teams in the WNBA, their "game faces" should be one of gratification, as they move forward with a league that has shown itself to be intense, divergent and passionate.

It�s clear that women�and the WNBA�have come a long way in sports.