Indiana selects LC High graduate No. 6 overall
For the past week Briann January heard her name mentioned as one of the best female basketball players available for the WNBA draft.
As in, first-round good.
“Every time they talked about me I thought, ‘Is this happening?’ ” January said. “My image of myself is not that at all.”
It turns out the experts were right. January, a 2005 graduate of Lewis and Clark High, was taken by the Indiana Fever with the sixth pick in the draft Thursday evening in New York.
“Oh my goodness,” a breathless January said in a telephone interview from New York about an hour after her selection. “It’s an honor. I’m at a loss for words, because I’m so excited.
“I definitely tried to imagine my name being called at the draft when I started college, even when I was in high school. Today that dream came true. Being up there with that jersey is everything I wanted.”
January, a month from getting her degree from Arizona State, is the third Spokane player to be drafted. Stacy Clinesmith, from Mead and Santa Barbara, was a second-round pick in 2000 and Emily Westerberg, from Central Valley and ASU, was a third-rounder two years ago. Clinesmith played three seasons, Westerberg elected not to play professionally.
January has no problem with relocating to Indiana, even though Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and Phoenix are among the 13 WNBA locations.
“I laughed whenever people asked me about that,” she said. “I always said, ‘I’ll go play wherever they have a coach.’ I still believe that. It’s an honor to play in the league.”
The Fever, under veteran coach Lin Dunn who was the first coach for the Seattle Storm, went 17-17 last year, losing to eventual champion Detroit in the Eastern Conference semifinals, their fourth consecutive playoff appearance.
“They have a great team,” January said. “They were solid in the league last year. Tamika Catchings is one of my favorite players. They have a great coach.”
January captained Arizona State to the Elite Eight. The Sun Devils lost to Connecticut, which completed one of the most dominating seasons in NCAA history Tuesday night with its fifth championship.
She finished the season with an ASU-record 65 3-pointers and a percentage of 46.9, which was second in the nation. An All-Pac-10 pick and two-time league Defensive Player of the Year, the 5-foot-8 guard is ASU’s all-time leader in assists (538), second in steals (265) and free throws (301) and seventh in scoring (1.317 points).
“(The draft) was definitely always something in the back of my mind, but on the same note I wanted to make the most of my senior season,” January said. “I constantly had to remind myself to stay in the present, and if I do that my goals will be achieved.
“But I definitely thought about it the past week a lot, a lot. This is a dream come true. I think all that work I put in all those years paid off. It’s a great feeling inside.”
Storm take forward
The Seattle Storm selected forward Ashley Walker from California and guard Mara Freshour from Florida State in the draft.
The team’s pick at No. 12 overall made Walker the first Cal player drafted into the WNBA. She is the second-leading scorer and top rebounder in Bears history.
Angel McCoughtry of the Louisville Cardinals was chosen by the Atlanta Dream with the No. 1 overall pick.
The 6-foot-1 McCoughtry averaged 22.8 points and 9.5 rebounds her last three years.