Whalen, a 6-foot-1 guard/forward from Charlotte, N.C., is trying to follow in their footsteps by reaching the WNBA. She received a training camp invitation from the Indiana Fever last week and has been working out with the team since Sunday. Jenna Giacone, who like Whalen was a sixth-year senior on Dayton’s roster last season, is on the same path and has been training with the Seattle Storm, who also started camp Sunday.
Whalen scored 1,078 points in three seasons at Dayton. She’s one of 26 1,000-point scorers in school history and ranks 25th in career scoring. Malott and Hoover, who were both inducted into UD’s hall of fame this year, reached the WBNA in 2015 after leading Dayton to the Elite Eight as seniors.
Malott appeared in 47 games for the Washington Mystics in two seasons (2015-16). Hoover appeared in 12 games for the Los Angeles Sparks in 2015.
Whalen was one of eight rookies on the Fever’s roster when camp began, and two of the players have been released. The team plays its first preseason game April 30 and opens the season May 6.
“It’s definitely been honestly a dream come true,” she said Thursday in a Zoom interview. “It’s something I’ve really been working for ever since I came to college. Obviously, the WNBA is something everyone kind of strives for. I’ve been trying to stay in the moment and learn so much from all the coaches and my teammates. I’m trying to take it day by day and just soak in every minute that I’m here.”
Whalen said her agent and her former college coach, Shauna Green, who left UD for the head coaching job at Illinois in March, helped get her name out there in WNBA circles, which led to the training camp invitation. Whalen played two seasons at Vanderbilt, sat out a year after transferring to Dayton and then spent three seasons on the court with the Flyers. The 2020-21 season didn’t count against anyone’s eligibility because of the pandemic, and Whalen took advantage of the extra year to get ready for this chance.
“I was texting coach Green a couple days ago,” Whalen said, “and said, ‘Thank you so much,’ because a ton of these drills that we’re doing in training camp we did at practice at UD, so it’s made the transition a little bit easier. I’ve been able to step in and actually feel comfortable in the drills.”
Dayton’s style of play also prepared Whalen for the WNBA.
“We preach playing pretty fast,” Whalen said. “We like to score in six seconds or less, and that’s pretty similar to the fast-paced environment that the Fever like play with as well. So the conditioning alone has helped me a lot. I feel like I’m in good shape. All of our practice are always up and down at UD. So I’ve definitely been able to carry that over because everything here is just go go go.”
Whalen has met the new Dayton coach, Tamika Williams-Jeter, who was hired March 26.
“She seems great,” Whalen said. “The girls that are still there, they’re really excited for the season. I’m just hopeful that everyone stays motivated, and I feel like she’ll be a good fill-in. They’ve done their due diligence in research on her. She seems nice. I’m extremely happy for Coach Green.”
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