January selected by Indiana Fever in WNBA Draft
Former Arizona State guard Briann January was selected by the Indiana Fever with the sixth pick in the first round of the annual WNBA Draft, which was held on Thursday at the NBA Entertainment studios in Secaucus, N.J.
January, who earned honorable-mention All-America honors from the Associated Press and Women's Basketball Coaches Association in 2009, 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).
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). Within the Pac-10 January was first in assists (4.7 apg), 3-point field goal percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio, second in steals (2.3 spg) and fourth in free throw percentage (.840) and 3-point field goals per game (2.0). 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.
During her 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).
January becomes the fifth Sun Devil to be drafted into the WNBA and the first since Emily Westerberg was drafted by the Phoenix Mercury in the third round of the 2007 WNBA Draft.