Hoya File Photo Katie Smrcka-Duffy is the first Hoya to be drafted by the WNBA.
Senior guard Katie Smrcka-Duffy was selected by the Sacramento onarchs in the fourth round of Friday’s WNBA draft to become the first female basketball player ever drafted from Georgetown.
Smrcka-Duffy was the 62nd pick overall.
“We liked her talent and toughness,” Monarchs General Manager Jerry Reynolds said of Smrcka-Duffy. “She definitely has a strong ability one on one.”
Reynolds said Smrcka-Duffy came to the team’s attention in Chicago at the WNBA Pre-Draft Camp. The event featured 80 to 90 of the world’s premier women’s basketball players.
“She was not unknown to us, but that was the first time I was able to watch her in person,” Reynolds said. Prior to the camps, Reynolds had only seen Smrcka-Duffy on game tapes and videos.
Despite being drafted, Smrcka-Duffy will have to earn a spot on the 11-woman roster in the preseason camps. Since the Monarchs will return all 11 players from last season, that could be a difficult task.
“It will be a tough road for her,” Reynolds said. “But she certainly has a chance.”
The Monarchs see Smrcka-Duffy as a point guard with scoring potential and Reynolds said he liked the idea of using her as a backup to current point guard Ticha Penicheiro.
Smrcka-Duffy leaves Georgetown as the second all-time leading scorer in team history. She finishes with 2,072 points, 1,671 of which were scored for the Hoyas. Smrcka-Duffy leads the Hoyas in all-time three-point percentage (.384) and free-throw percentage (.823). She transferred to Georgetown after spending her freshman year at North Carolina State.
The Sacramento Monarchs lost in the first round of the 2000 WNBA playoffs after finishing the regular season with a record of 21-11. Their current roster includes guard Ruthie Bolton-Holyfield and center Kara Wolters, Smrcka-Duffy’s former Big East opponent at University of Connecticut.
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