April 9, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State senior guard Kristi Cirone was invited to a free agent camp by the WNBA's Connecticut Sun Thursday, which will be held May 16. Cirone was not selected in the three-round WNBA Draft Thursday, but has a chance to make the Suns' roster in a little over a month.
Cirone was the second player in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference to be named player of the year in three-consecutive seasons and the sixth player to be named All-Valley all four years of her career. Cirone garnered four honorable mention All-American honors in her career, the most in ISU women's basketball history, and was the first Redbird to be honored by the Associated Press.
Cirone is Illinois State's all-time lead in scoring (2,139), three-point field goals made (229) and attempted (613), free throws made (512) and attempted (655), assists (681), assists per game (5.3) and games started (129). She is third all-time in the Valley in scoring and second in assists. This past season, she set the ISU single-season records for scoring (657) and assists (203). Her final three seasons all ranked in the top-10 in school single-season history in points and assists.
Connecticut made three selections in the 2009 WNBA Draft, adding Duke's Chante Black, Virginia's Lyndra Littles and Alba Torrens from Spain. The franchises started in Orlando and was known as the Miracle from 1999-2002. The team moved to Connecticut prior to the 2003 season and enters its seventh season in the WNBA in 2009. The Sun was 21-13 in 2008, finished third in the Eastern Conference and lost to the New York Liberty in the conference semifinals.
