StingRays Get Price as Top Draft Choice

Katrina Price, who caught Coach Maura McHugh’s eye at a college all-star game during the women’s Final Four in March, was the Long Beach StingRays’ top pick and the seventh overall in Tuesday’s ABL draft.

The 5-foot-10, 150-pound guard from Stephen F. Austin brings three-point shooting and tough perimeter defense to Long Beach, McHugh said.

“She has a pro-style body . . . strong, yet she’s quick and agile,” McHugh said.

“She drives well and I like her passing skills. With Natalie [Williams] in the low post, we need great passing to get her the ball.”

Price originally signed with the WNBA, went through that league’s combine workout, had a subpar tryout and wasn’t chosen in the WNBA draft.

After taking Price, the StingRays waited two hours for their next pick, the 33rd, to pick a seven-year veteran from the Swiss pro league, 5-11 Pam Hudson. She was the nation’s No. 2 scorer at Northwestern Louisiana in 1990.

Picking first, Portland chose 6-3 center Danielle McCulley of Western Kentucky, and Philadelphia followed by taking 6-2 Chasity Melvin of North Carolina State.

Portland had three first-round picks. After McCulley, Coach Lin Dunn took Averill Roberts of Ohio State eighth and then, after a trade with Columbus for the 10th selection, chose Debra Williams of Louisiana Tech.

Long Beach passed on its final two selections.

Trisha Stafford, a StingRay sub last season, was picked by New England in the second round. Long Beach practice player Darla Simpson was taken by Colorado in the second round.

Long Beach General Manager Bill McGillis indicated that the WNBA had let one slip by not drafting Price. “We felt like Price was one of the two or three best college guards,” he said.

She averaged 22 points a game and shot 33% from beyond the three-point line. In the all-star game McHugh saw, Price scored 11 points in 18 minutes, making three of four three-pointers.

Long Beach’s roster: centers Natalie Williams and Cass Bauer; forwards Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil, Pam Hudson, Stacey Lovelace and Rhonda Smith; guards Andrea Nagy, Beverly Williams, Deanna Tate and Katrina Price.