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Julien Inks with Atlanta Dream

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(EN Photo / Brad Young)

Senior Rosemarie Julien has officially signed a training camp contract with the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA. Julien will become the second player in program history to join a WNBA training camp since Whitney Knight, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016.
“It is a tremendous accomplishment to get invited to a WNBA camp,” FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. “Rose was invited to multiple camps, but she felt most comfortable with the Atlanta Dream and Coach Collen.”
While with the Dream, Julien will become one of the 15 maximum allowable players on the roster when training camps open around the league on April 29. Preseason games will take place May 4-15 and the final roster cut-down deadline to 12 players is May 17 at 5 p.m. before the regular season opens the following day.
“It isn’t easy to make a WNBA roster, but Rose’s skill set will give her a chance,” Smesko said. “I think she is the best ball-screen defender coming out of college this year. She has great defensive versatility by being able to guard multiple positions.  Rose has tremendous practice habits, and she is great for team chemistry and organizational culture. She is also a good three-point shooter who can also attack the rim. If she displays all these things in camp, I feel she has a real shot of making the team.”
The Dream is coached by former FGCU assistant basketball coach Nicki Collen, who was named the Dream’s head coach on Oct. 30, 2017. This will be her first season with the team following a pair of successful campaigns as an assistant coach with the Connecticut Sun. She spent two seasons with the Eagles coaching staff from 2014-16, helping lead the program to back-to-back 30-plus win seasons.
Julien, who was named the A-SUN Preseason Player of the Year, is coming off a season in which she averaged 13.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in over 36 games. In 26 of her 36 games played, Julien produced double-digit points while shooting 157-for-357 (.440) from the field and 72-for-209 (.344) from the three-point range. Her 476 points is the eighth most in a single season in program history. Julien broke the program’s Division I era single-game scoring record with 36 points against Stetson on Jan. 7 en route to averaging 11 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists her junior year.
Julien led the team in scoring twice while compiling 862 points over just 71 career games before transferring from NJCAA Chipola College, where she led the Indians to two national tournament championship games. Julien ranks 12th all-time on the program’s career scoring list and sixth in career average (12.1/game), second all-time in free throw percentage (146-for-180, .811), ninth in games started (71), ninth in field goal percentage (.456, 297-for-652), 12th in field goals made (297) and 12th in field goals attempted (652). She was also fourth in single season free throw percentage (.826) in 2017-18.
In addition, Julien was a two-time First Team All-A-SUN pick, including a unanimous selection in 2017-18, a three-time A-SUN player of the week, three-time A-SUN newcomer of the week and was named the A-SUN’s newcomer of the year as a junior. As a senior, she earned a spot on the ASUN’s All-Tournament team after producing 19 points in a championship game win over No. 2 seed Jacksonville.
Behind Julien’s scoring, as well as her ability to defend at an elite level, FGCU finished 31-5 overall in 2017-18 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where the Eagles knocked off Missouri in the first round and subsequently advanced to the second round for just the second time in program history

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