New York ? Chamique Holdsclaw led Tennessee to three straight NCAA titles. Now she has the Washington Mystics on the verge of playing for their first WNBA championship.

By leading the league in rebounding and scoring, Holdsclaw helped the Mystics to their first winning season (17-15). A win today against the New York Liberty at Madison Square Garden in the Eastern Conference finals would send the Mystics to the WNBA Finals against the winner of the Los Angeles-Utah series.

After dealing with her grandmother’s death before the season, Holdsclaw shined, averaging a career-high 19.9 points and 11.8 rebounds. June Holdsclaw, who died of an apparent heart attack in May, raised Chamique.

“At first I told myself I’m not going to sulk,” Holdsclaw said.

“So I tried to involve myself in things, be around my teammates and draw strength from them.”

Her turnaround, interrupted midway through the season when she missed nine games with a sprained ankle, has come in part because Tennessee coach Pat Summitt was hired by the Mystics as a team consultant this season.

With the Vols, Summitt helped Holdsclaw become a four-time All-American. Without Summitt in her first three WNBA seasons, Holdsclaw struggled.

So did the Mystics, who have gone through four coaches in Holdsclaw’s four seasons. Last season, they finished tied for last in the league.

Everything changed this season.

“She’s had an MVP-type season,” Washington coach Marianne Stanley said.