London, Ontario’s Miranda Ayim named to WNBA Roster

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TULSA, OK– Announced earlier today, Miranda Ayim (London, ON) was named to the roster of the Tulsa Shock of the WNBA. She becomes the tenth Canadian ever to make a roster or be drafted to the WNBA and is one of two Canadians who will be playing in the league this upcoming season. The other Canadian is Tammy Sutton-Brown, who will suit up for the Indiana Fever.

Ayim is a recent graduate of Pepperdine University, where she starred for four years as a Wave. She is a three-time All-West Coast Conference (WCC) first team selection, only the fourth player at Pepperdine to achieve this three times. She is also the first Wave to be a WCC All-Academic selection three times and holds the school record for blocked shots with 182.

As a member of the National Team program, Ayim first represented Canada in 2005 on the Cadette National Team at USA Basketball’s Youth Festival. In 2006, she played on the Junior Women’s Team, competing at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship, helping Canada to a silver medal. In 2007, she competed at the FIBA U21 World Championship in Russia, helping Canada to a sixth-place finish. She was also a member of the Junior National Team that participated in the 2007 U19 FIBA World Championship. Last summer, she was a member of the Senior Women’s Team that played Chile and Sweden at the Jack Donohue International Classic in Richmond, British Columbia.

She played 22 games for Alanya Belediye in Turkey in 2010-2011, where she was named an honourable Mention to the All-Turkish TKBL team.

After her professional experience in Turkey, she was invited to training camp by the Tulsa Shock, who signed her shortly after. The Shock are in the midst of final preparations for the regular season opener, which starts June 4, 2011 against the Silverstars in San Antonio.

Canadians who played in the WNBA:

Miranda Ayim (London, ON) – 2011
Kim Smith (Mission, BC) – 2006
Shona Thorburn (Hamilton, ON) – 2006
Stacey Dales (Brockville, ON) – 2006
Tammy Sutton-Brown (Markham, ON) – 2003
Amber Hall (Vancouver, BC) – 2002
Angie Ball (Pickering, ON) – 2001
Cal Bouchard (Aurora, ON) – 2000
Merlelynn Lange-Harris (Toronto, ON) -1999
Kelly Boucher (Calgary, AB) – 1998

PHOTO COURTESY: MALIBU TIMES