Six Picked in Draft

Update: Morenike Atunrase was picked 24th overall by the league’s newest expansion team, the Atlanta Dream, in the second round, but was later traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars along with WNBA veteran Ann Wauters and Atlanta’s 2009 second round pick for Camille Little and Georgia Tech’s Chioma Nnamaka who was drafted 21st overall.


HOUSTON, TX -- The WNBA held its 2008 WNBA Draft Wednesday afternoon; and, six players from Texas schools were chosen in the three round draft: two from Texas A&M; two from Texas-El Paso; one from Baylor University and one from Rice University.

Texas A&M's Morenike Atunrase was chosen by the Atlanta Dream in the second round with the 24th pick overall.

UTEP's Natasha Lacy was selected by the Detroit Shock in the second round with the 28th pick overall.

Angela Tisdale (Baylor) was chosen by the Chicago Sky with the 33rd pick in the Draft.

Atunrase's college teammate, A'Quonesia Franklin, was selected by the Sacramento Monarchs with the 39th pick.

Lacy's teammate, Izabela Piekarska, was picked by the Monarchs with the 40th pick; and, last but, certainly not least, Rice's Valeriya Berezhynska was chosen by the Detroit Shock with the 42nd selection in the Draft.

Of the six player chosen in the WNBA Draft, five of them were interviewed by the Houston Roundball Review this season either at a conference media Day (Tisdale); after a practice and / or a ball game (Lacy and Berezhynska); during last weekend's WNBA Pre-Draft Camp (Berezhynska and Franklin); or on Wednesday's WNBA Draft Day (Atunrase).

Congratulations to all six players and good luck in the pros!