April 17, 2004
Duquesne University's Candace Futrell (Altoona, Pa./Altoona) has been chosen as the Connecticut Sun's fourth pick in the third round of the WNBA draft Saturday April 17 held at the studios of NBA Entertainment Studios in Secaucus, NJ.
The 5-10 guard led the Atlantic 10 in scoring on her way to earning co-Player of the Year honors. Her 21.4 ppg scoring average was the sixth best in the nation. A three-time All-Atlantic 10 selection, Futrell was named first team All-Conference this year after being named the A-10's Most Improved Player in 2002. Futrell finished her career second on Duquesne's all-time scoring list with 1,668 points. Her 183 three-pointers made are the most by a Duquesne player. The Altoona, Pa. native scored in double figures in 77 of 108 games and totaled 20 or more points in a game 39 times. Futrell, a three-year starter for the Dukes, participated in the 2003 USA Basketball Team Trials this past summer.
Futrell is following in the footsteps of Korie Hlede who was Duquesne's first-ever WNBA draft pick in 1998. Hlede, who was chosen by the Detroit Shock with the fourth overall pick of the '98 draft, played a total of five seasons with three different teams before accepting an assistant coaching position with the Shock prior to last year.
Futrell was among an elite group of collegiate seniors to participate in last week's WNBA Pre-Draft camp. The camp gave the WNBA coaches and general managers an opportunity to evaluate the skills of what is considered one of the deepest draft classes in WNBA history.
Complete coverage and player statistics can be found at wnba.com.
