collegiate career. Taylor said one of her biggest developments in college was to build her strength up. Despite pulling down 7.3 rebounds per game, she counted rebounding as a weakness of hers and would continue to work hard on it to improve. Taylor graduated from Santa Barbara in 2004. Her collegiate career held many distinctions at the time, such as the all-time leader in points: 1,755, most blocked shots: 242, and field goal percentage: 55.8%, in UC Santa Barbara history. Taylor has been Santa Barbara's all-time leading point scorer, blocker and most accurate shooter. In April 2014, she was elected to UC Santa Barbara Hall of Fame. UCSB statistics Source: WNBA career First season (2004–2005) Taylor was one of the highly regarded rookies for the 2004 WNBA draft. At age 22 she was chosen by the Houston Comets. She was subsequently traded to Phoenix Mercury alongside the higher-regarded Diana Taurasi. She was a second-round pick (26th overall) in the 2004 WNBA Draft. Her first game was against the Seattle Storm, on May 8, 2004. Prior to the game, Taylor was told "there was a chance" she'd see some action. She got a rousing ovation when she came off the bench for a few minutes in the first half. Her family also attended the game, and were right there to watch her get her first taste of pro competition. She attempted one field goal, which she missed. On May 10, the Mercury played the Sacramento Monarchs. She attempted rebounds against Chantelle Anderson and Maren Walseth. Taylor was injured later on. Despite the injury she recovered enough to play against the Sacramento Monarchs on June 27 when she performed a career-high. Eighteen minutes into the game she grabbed two rebounds and scored three points on a 3-point basket late in the game and blocked four shots in 17 minutes. The game ended, 83–44, a Phoenix victory. Taylor remained on the injured list for the rest of the season, but was expected to return later in her inaugural WNBA season. In total, she would appear in just five games and miss over twenty other matches during the 2004 season, seeing limited action in those games before being waived at the end of 2005 training camp. Second season (2006) On April 13, 2006, the Seattle Storm signed Taylor to a training camp contract. Upon joining her new team she immediately became the team's tallest