Sophie Cunningham On WNBA Draft & Growing Up On A Farm
(CBS Local)--New York City is the place to be tonight if you're a women's basketball fan.
The 2019 WNBA Draft is being held at the Nike New York headquarters and one of the players in the green room will be Missouri's all-time leading scorer Sophie Cunningham. Cunningham will be one of 12 prospects in the Big Apple and is looking forward to the next chapter of her life and basketball career.
"I'm going to enjoy tonight. It's a big deal, especially where I'm coming from in Mizzou," said Cunningham in an interview with CBS Local. "I'm representing a lot of people and I'm excited to be here."
Cunningham was one of the best three point shooters in college basketball this year and started playing hoops while growing up on a farm in Missouri. Her time on the farm shaped her in many ways.
"I have a mammoth donkey and a lot of people think that's kind of weird," said Cunningham. "I'm blessed to be here and I gotta thank God for that. My sister has been such a huge inspiration to me. My mom and my dad and my extended family have been a great support system as well."
The New York Liberty will have the second pick in tonight's draft. Cunningham is a projected mid-late first round pick according to multiple mock drafts and is excited to take on some of the best in the league once she finds her new home.
"There's legends in the league right now and you have to bring it every single day in practice," said Cunningham. "They told us not to be starstruck during the player panel yesterday. They said you can do that later because they are going to drop 30 on you. I'm anxious to play everyone, but there's Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Elena Delle Done...now you're playing with them and you have to put that aside and go compete.