April 9, 2008

Ohio State's Marscilla Packer and Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson were both selected in the 2008 Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Draft on Wednesday afternoon in Tampa, Fla.  Anderson was chosen 23rd in the draft by the Connecticut Sun.  Packer was selected 41st by the defending WNBA champions, the Phoenix Mercury. 

Anderson became the first Badger in six years to be drafted into the WNBA and is the third player in UW history to be selected into the league on draft day.  The Port Wing, Wis., native finished her career as the all-time Badger leading scorer for both men's and women's basketball, scoring 2,312 points.  In her senior season, Anderson was voted by the media as the Big Ten Player of the year, a program first, and was the conference scoring champion averaging 19.6 points per game in Big Ten play. 

Packer becomes the ninth player from Ohio State to be selected in the WNBA draft.  The Pickerington, Ohio, native averaged 15.1 points per game during her senior campaign and finished her career with 1,228 points, which places her 18th on the Buckeyes' all-time scoring list. 

With two selections 2008, 59 Big Ten standouts have now been taken in the 12 years of the WNBA draft.