Jeanette Pohlen to debut this weekend for Fever, Jasmine Hassell released

Indiana’s Jeanette Pohlen will make her 2013 WNBA debut on Saturday when the Fever hosts Eastern Conference-leading Chicago at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Pohlen sustained a torn right ACL in Game 2 of the 2012 WNBA Finals. The team released rookie forward Jasmine Hassell to accommodate Pohlen’s return. Originally drafted by the Fever in the second round of the 2013 WNBA Draft, Hassell was waived in training camp and twice was added as a replacement player to help fill a roster decimated by injuries. Hassell appeared in 12 games for Indiana, averaging 1.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

Pohlen, the Fever’s top draft pick out of Stanford in 2011, begins her third pro season boasting a 44 percent shooting clip from 3-point range over two years. She was the first rookie to lead the WNBA in 3-point percentage in 2011 (.468), and ranked 11th in 2012 (.421) while helping Indiana to its first league championship.

Pohlen is one of four Fever players who have missed extended time due to injury this season. Others include Erin Phillips (torn right meniscus), Katie Douglas (bulging disc in lower back), Jessica Davenport (left tibia stress fracture). In all, eight different Fever players have missed time due to injury this season, including six of the club’s top seven scorers from its 2012 championship team.