January has triumphant homecoming

August 09, 2009

<a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/january_briann00.html"… January</a> had a great homecoming on Aug. 8 as the former Sun Devil and her Indiana Fever teammates improved the WNBA's best record to 17-4 with a 90-83 win over the Phoenix Mercury at US Airways Center in Phoenix.<separator></separator>January, who the Fever selected with the sixth overall pick in the WNBA Draft earlier this year, entered the game midway through the first quarter and would go on to score seven points and dish out three assists in 22 minutes of play.<separator></separator>Saturday's game was a matchup of the teams with the top two records in the WNBA and offered a preview of a possible WNBA Finals showdown later this year. The two teams will meet again in Indianapolis on Sept. 2.<separator></separator>During January's four-year career the Sun Devils won 77 percent of their games (104-32), including 82 percent of their Pac-10 games (59-13), and qualified for the NCAA Tournament all four years, including the program's only Elite Eight appearances (2007, `09).<separator></separator>A two-time Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and named first-team All-Pac-10 in 2009, January concluded the 2008-09 regular season second in the nation in 3-point FG pct. (.469) and 12th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1). Her 65 3-pointers set a new school single-season record while her 167 assists were fourth on the school's all-time single-season list.<separator></separator>January ended her stint as a Sun Devil at or near the top of several ASU career statistical categories including assists (first, 538), free throw percentage (first, .830), steals (second, 265), free throws (second, 401), 3-point field goal percentage (fourth, .399), 3-point field goals (fifth, 132) and points (seventh, 1,317).