Amanda Brown spoke with her mother while she walked out of the Forum Building yesterday afternoon. Still no news.

Then, in came a call from her brother, Stephen.

"You're going to L.A.," he said.

Brown, a former Penn State women's basketball player, was drafted 38th (out of a possible 39) in the third round by the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA yesterday afternoon, making her the 11th Lady Lion selected in the WNBA Draft.

"I'm still in shock," she said. "I was hoping that it would happen. But I didn't expect it. I sat around all day. Toward the end I was like, 'Maybe it's not going to happen.' "

Brown, who said she's never visited California, hadn't been contacted by the team yesterday afternoon but said she expects to be used like she did at Penn State -- as a shifty, floor-running forward.

She was an All-Big Ten first team selection this year and was second on the team in scoring (14.2 points per game), which was eighth in the Big Ten. She was also third in the league in field goal percentage (.593) and fifth in blocked shots (1.55).

She'll have the opportunity to learn from one of the game's best, too. Lisa Leslie, who is on leave from the 2007 team because she's pregnant with her first child, will hang around the team, according the WNBA Web site. Leslie, a center, is one of the most famous women's basketball players.

"She's been one of my idol players for a very long time," Brown said. "Since I started playing basketball. Hopefully she will be around. It'll be neat to learn a lot from her on and off the court."

Brown said her teammates congratulated her yesterday at the Bryce Jordan Center. She said former coaches Susan Robinson-Fruchtl and Keila Whittington made congratulatory calls. She said she didn't speak to Rene Portland, who resigned as women's basketball coach in March.

The Sparks, one of the most successful WBNA teams since the league's inception, open their season on May 22 against the Chicago Sky. In the second round, the Sparks selected Sidney Spencer, a forward from Tennessee.

"I'm really excited; I can't believe I'm going there," she said. "I'm excited to take this opportunity and hopefully make it a good summer."