Ballarat to the big time: Aussie draftee’s WNBA delight
John Salvado |
Diminutive Australian guard Georgia Amoore has pledged to bring some competitive “dog” to the Washington Mystics after being selected at pick six in the WNBA Draft.
The Mystics, with a new coach and general manager, had three of the first half-dozen picks on Monday (Tuesday AEST).
They chose Sonia Citron at No.3, Kiki Iriafen at No.4 and University of Kentucky guard Amoore with the sixth selection.
It was the earliest an Australian had been picked in a WNBA Draft since 2011, when Liz Cambage went to the Tulsa Shock at No.2.
“For as long as people have called me too short I’ve been working on how to counteract that,” said the 168cm Amoore.
“It’s not a shock to me.
“I know that I have to work in different ways, use my brain a little bit more.
“With my competitive background, I think I have a little bit of dog in me that’s going to keep me fighting.”
Amoore was dressed on the WNBA’s orange carpet by NBA star Russell Westbrook, who has a clothing brand called Honor The Gift.
Amoore said Westbrook designed her outfit and was amazing to work with since they first got together on a Zoom session last November.
Amoore hails from Ballarat and grew up playing a number of sports, including Australian Rules football, cricket, netball and taekwondo before switching her focus solely to basketball at the age of 17.
The 24-year-old started 155 of 157 games over five college seasons in the US, averaging 19.6 points and 6.9 assists for Kentucky this season after transferring from Virginia Tech.
As expected, the much-hyped Paige Bueckers went to the Dallas Wings as the top pick.
The versatile UConn star is the latest Huskies standout to go No.1, joining former greats Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart.
“Dallas I’m so excited, a new city, a new start,” Bueckers said. “A fresh start, so let’s get it.”
Bueckers has had a whirlwind week since helping UConn win a 12th national championship on April 6. She has split her time between New York and Connecticut doing morning and nighttime talk shows.
On Sunday, she took part in the Huskies’ championship parade.
Seattle quickly followed Dallas’ selection by taking 19-year-old French centre Dominique Malonga with the No.2 pick.
Malonga was part of the silver medal winning French Olympic basketball team. She’s the first French player to be drafted this high since 1997, when Isabelle Fijalkowski went second.
“I was so proud to achieve that goal,” Malonga said.
“It showed that French basketball has evolved as we’ve seen the past few years on the NBA side. We see Wemby (Victor Wembanyama) and Zaccharie (Risacher) show that French basketball is great.”
The expansion Golden State Valkyries took Juste Jocyte of Lithuania with the first draft choice in franchise history.
with AP
AAP
