WNBA roundup: Anderson, Day, Purcell and Lang get training camp invites
By Mike Peden
As the hoopla surrounding the WNBA Draft fades, a wave of training camp news dotted the landscape on Monday.
The San Antonio Stars continued to augment their roster, signing Briana Day from Syracuse. The 6-foot-4-inch center started every game for the Orange in the past three years. Day is the only women’s basketball player in Syracuse history to surpass 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. She also led the Atlantic Coast Conference in field goal percentage at .546, but her college career came to an end at the hands of UConn in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Over in Chicago, the Sky inked an offer with Yvonne Anderson. The 5’7″ guard graduated from Texas in 2012, but she has yet to make a WNBA roster. Anderson, 27, does hold plenty of overseas experience, including her 2016-17 campaign with Galatasaray of the Turkish Women’s Basketball League.
The Dallas Wings significantly bolstered their roster on draft day with three first-round picks. Joining them for camp are a pair of hopefuls whose names weren’t called. Kelsey Lang of Texas is one of those figures. She started all but two games in her senior season with the Longhorns, averaging 9.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game en route to a Sweet 16 appearance at this year’s NCAA tournament. Lang’s offensive posture wasn’t explosive, but the 6’5″ center did record seven double-doubles.
Kalani Purcell is the other training camp invite headed to Dallas. Purcell had a stellar two-year run at Brigham Young University, setting the school record for most rebounds in a season. She led the West Coast Conference in rebounds for two years in a row, averaging a double-double in the process. Her efforts were rewarded with back-to-back All-WCC First Team honors.
Of course, making the cut is tough for players who weren’t drafted, but the quartet of signings is indicative of the growing talent pool in women’s basketball.