Uncasville, Conn. — Dearica Hamby never expected to be in this position. The 6-foot-3 forward from Wake Forest wanted to be a lawyer when she was younger, but on Thursday night she found herself at the beginning of a much different career path.

As she sat at a table Thursday night with her friends and family by her side, Hamby was able to see six years of hard work pay off.

The San Antonio Stars selected Hamby with the No. 6 pick in the 2015 WNBA Draft.

“You’ve been anxious since the season ended,” said Hamby, “and just being able to finally find out exactly where you’re going to go gives you something – basically now you get to work harder and you know what you’re looking forward to.”

Hamby started playing basketball when she was a sophomore in high school and forayed that experience into a scholarship and a successful career in the Atlantic Coast Conference with Wake Forest. She leaves the Demon Deacons as the school’s all-time leader in points and rebounds.

“It means a lot. I didn’t expect to be here,” Hamby said. “I didn’t expect to play professional basketball. I wanted to be a lawyer. I stuck with it, I believed in myself, my coaches believed in me and now I’m going to be playing professional.”

She heads to a San Antonio team that enters 2015 with a young core as it looks to move forward from the Becky Hammon era. Head coach Dan Hughes said before the draft that he was looking for a player who could immediately contribute off the bench.

“People that can come in, come in the middle minutes of the first quarter and help my team,” Hughes said on a pre-draft conference call.

Hamby, who said Hughes texted her and welcomed her to San Antonio, says she understands what she needs to bring to the Stars in her first season as a professional.

“Just consistent energy,” Hamby said. “I know that that’s something that coaches love about me – my ability to run the floor, how versatile I am and being able to cause mismatch problems.”