Phoenix Mercury sign guard Yvonne Turner and forward Emma Cannon
The Phoenix Mercury signed guard Yvonne Turner and forward Emma Cannon.
From the team:
The 5-foot-10 Turner, who has seen brief stints with the Chicago Sky and San Antonio Stars, currently plays for Uniqa Sopron in Hungary alongside Mercury center Cayla George. In the midst of her best season as a pro, Turner leads the EuroLeague in scoring at 19.7 points per game, which ranks just ahead of Mercury star Diana Taurasi (18.6). Thanks to her well-rounded game, Turner is the only player in the EuroLeague who ranks in the top-10 in both points and assists, and she also ranks in the top-10 in steals. Overall, the Nebraska native and former Nebraska Cornhusker is averaging 5.3 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.0 steals.
Before taking her talents overseas, Turner was a four-year standout at the University of Nebraska from 2006-10 where she was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive team three times and was voted as the Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year following her senior season. She became just the sixth player in program history to finish a career with at least 1,000 points, 200 assists and 200 steals. Turner finished her time at Nebraska ranked second in career three-pointers made (183) with the second-most threes in a single season (57, 2009), and fifth on the career steals list (229).
A 6-foot-2 power forward, Cannon currently plays for Chevakata in the Russian League where she has stood out among some of the WNBA’s biggest stars. Cannon leads the Russian League in scoring at 20.8 points (not all players on Russian teams play in Russian League games), just ahead of Mercury center Brittney Griner of UMMC Ekaterinburg, and ranks second in rebounding at 10.1 boards. In addition to averaging a double-double, Cannon averages 1.8 steals per game and is shooting team-best 52.2-percent from the field. Cannon has posted big games against two of the best international teams, UMMC Ekaterinburg (Griner, Diana Taurasi) and Dynamo Kursk (WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike, Angel McCoughtry); she tallied 27 points and eight rebounds against the former, and is averaging 27.0 points and 4.0 boards in two games against the latter.
Prior to playing professionally overseas, Cannon spent her first three years of college playing at the University of Central Florida before transferring to Florida Southern for her senior season. She averaged 13.0 points and 10.1 rebounds in 89 games played during her three years at UCF, including career-high averages of 15.5 points and 11.6 rebounds as a sophomore. She was a NCAA Division-II All-American Honorable Mention as a senior.
