IOWA CITY – Iowa senior women's basketball player Crystal Smith has been selected by the Phoenix Mercury with the 32nd pick in the third round of today's WNBA Draft.

Smith becomes the 12th Hawkeye to be drafted by the WNBA and the third in six years. She becomes the first Hawkeye to be selected in the WNBA Draft since Lindsey Meder was picked 38th in the third round by the Minnesota Lynx in 2002.

The native of Haughton, LA, was one of three players selected by the Mercury in today's draft.

A two-time tri-captain, Smith was named a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American in her senior campaign. The 5-6 guard, was one of only two Big Ten players to be named consensus all-conference and to the all-defensive team.

Smith set or matched six single-game Iowa records in 2005-06, including points (46). Smith finished her Hawkeye career ranked fifth in Iowa career steals (213) and 3-pointers made (116) and 14th in scoring (1,193). She earned third team all-Big Ten accolades her junior year and was named Most Outstanding Player at the 2004 Junkanoo Jam and Hawkeye Challenge Tournaments.

Comments today from Coach Lisa Bluder on Smith being drafted:

Q: Pretty exciting news today with Crystal Smith being drafted today.

BLUDER: Yeah, Crystal was drafted today in the 3rd round by Phoenix. She is the 12th player from our program to be drafted by the WNBA.

Q: What does it say about Crystal, who probably came in with not much expected from her and now she achieves something like this?

BLUDER: It just shows what hard work and a good attitude can take you. It can take you to the top spot in our sport, the WNBA. For her, she has matured so much as a player and become a more all around player. She took the tools that she had, the quickness and the athleticism and used them to become one of the best players in the country.

Q: What was her reaction like?

BLUDER: She was thrilled. We were all watching it as a team and hoping her name would come up and when it did, it was just bedlam. It was kind of like when the selection committee picked us all over again.

Q: It has to be pretty special for her father, Michael Morgan, who was there with the team.

BLUDER: It was pretty emotional. You are obviously excited when your daughter's name comes up as being drafted. I think it is an incredible accomplishment for both of them.