April 4, 2007

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The 2007 WNBA Draft was held today and Purdue's Katie Gearlds was drafted in the first round by the Seattle Storm as the seventh overall pick. This season, Gearlds led the Boilermakers to a 31-6 record and the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament while garnering first team All-Big Ten honors and third team Associated Press All-America accolades.

"Seattle is the perfect fit for me," Gearlds said. "To start the day, that's where I had hoped I'd end up, where I thought I would end up. I feel like I have a great opportunity to play for a great coach and to learn from Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson and the others on the team. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Obviously, it's clear across the country for me, but I look forward to exploring the West Coast."

In seven WNBA seasons, the Seattle Storm has been one of the league's most consistently successful franchises. Powered by the duo of Bird and Jackson, both members of the WNBA's 10th Anniversary Team, the Storm has made four playoff appearances in the last five seasons and brought home the 2004 WNBA title. Coach Anne Donovan, the WNBA's third-winningest coach and the first female coach to win a championship and 100 WNBA games, has been the head coach since Dec. 2002.

Gearlds is the 10th Purdue player to be drafted by a WNBA franchise and is the highest pick ever for a Boilermaker. In 2001, Katie Douglas was taken in the first round as the 10th pick by the Orlando Miracle and Camille Cooper also went in the first round as the sixteenth pick overall to the Los Angeles Sparks. Shereka Wright was a first round choice in 2003 as the 13th overall pick by the Detroit Shock.

Gearlds leaves Purdue as the fourth leading scorer in school history with 1,974 points and holds the record for career three-pointers with 238. Her 37.9 percent accuracy from beyond the arc ranks her sixth all-time in that category. She also holds school records for minutes played (4,475), career free throw percentage (86.3) and points in a game (41). As a senior, Gearlds averaged 19.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists. She finished the season strong, averaging 25.3 points over her last 10 games.

The 6-foot-1 guard will graduate in May with a degree in sociology.

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