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WVU Women’s Basketball: Lanay Montgomery Drafted By Seattle Storm

By Phil Poling

Mar 6, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Lashann Higgs (10) drives to the basket in front of West Virginia Mountaineers center Lanay Montgomery (15) in third quarter during the women's Big 12 conference tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 6, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Texas Longhorns guard Lashann Higgs (10) drives to the basket in front of West Virginia Mountaineers center Lanay Montgomery (15) in third quarter during the women's Big 12 conference tournament at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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In Thursday night’s WNBA Draft, the Seattle Storm drafted WVU basketball’s Lanay Montgomery with the 30th overall pick.

After 29 players heard their name announced Thursday night, WVU’s Lanay Montgomery finally got to hear her’s called. While waiting patiently then finally celebrating with her teammates in Morgantown, Montgomery was all smiles.

https://twitter.com/WVUWBB/status/852686644520124416

Don’t you just love these types of videos? Albeit 17 seconds, that snippet of raw emotion is incredible. Montgomery had these comments in a teleconference after the draft.

"“It is truly an honor to have my name called at the WNBA Draft. I started playing basketball my freshman year of high school, and now to be drafted is an amazing feeling. It shows the hard work and dedication I’ve put into this game. I’dlike to say thank you to my dad Robert Montgomery for introducing me to the game and my AAU coach Milton Kimbrough for working with me and teaching me the game. I’d also like to thank my college coaches for the countless hours spent working with me on developing my game. Last, but not least, I want to say thank you to my basketball family and family for the unwavering support throughout this process. I look forward to my journey with the Seattle Storm.”"

Along with Montgomery, the Seattle Storm added Syracuse guard Alexis Peterson with the 15th overall pick.

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WVU women’s head coach Mike Carey has ushered six Mountaineers to the WNBA, including Montgomery; Kate Bulger (2004), Yolanda Paige (2005), Olayinka Sanni (2008), Asya Bussie (2014) and Bria Holmes (2016).

"“There is no one more deserving of this moment than Lanay Montgomery,” said coach Carey.”With her tremendous work ethic, Lanay has made great strides in her five years at West Virginia University. We are very proud of her accomplishments and I wish her the best of luck in Seattle.”"

The Seattle Storm are led by Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd and last year’s No. 1 overall pick Breanna Stewart. Add newcomers Peterson and Montgomery to the mix and the Storm should vastly improve on their first round exit in last year’s WNBA playoffs.

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