Phoenix Mercury sign Alexis Peterson to training camp contract
By Kim Doss
Phoenix adds point guard depth
The Phoenix Mercury added a big haul on draft night last Wednesday, but they may not have addressed all of their needs. The team has confirmed to High Post Hoops that 2017 ACC Player of the Year Alexis Peterson has been signed to a training camp contract.
Peterson was taken fifteenth out of Syracuse by Seattle in the 2017 WNBA draft. The 5-foot-7 point guard didn’t see the floor much for the Storm, playing only 121 minutes over 17 games all season. She ended her rookie season with 2.1 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 0.2 steals per game in 7.1 minutes per contest. She was released by the team in April 2018.
Peterson attended camp with the Indiana Fever prior to the 2018 season. She had an outstanding game against the Chicago Sky on May 7, hitting all of her shots for 17 points and dishing out four assists on the night. Ultimately, though, she didn’t do enough to stick with the team when they broke camp. She was released just over a week after that game.
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With Phoenix, she will be the eighth guard in training camp. However, only two of those guards averages over 3.5 assists per game for their careers — Diana Taurasi (4.3) and Briann January (3.6). Peterson proved in college that she could set her teammates up, ending her career with 3.5 apg and a 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio. In her final year in college, she dished out 7 assists per game.
At Syracuse, Peterson was a star. She finished her four years as the program’s second-leading scorer (1,978 points) and with more assists (590) than anyone in the school’s history. In her last year, she set the program’s single-season record for points (721) and assists (231) while leading the ACC in scoring.
After her final season with the Orange, Peterson was given the nod as an All-American by the WBCA Division I coaches. The Associated Press placed her on their All-American Second Team, and espnW listed her as Honorable Mention.
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