Liberty's Warley excited about her new job: center for the Phoenix Mercury

Her mother was speechless. And two days after making the roster of the Phoenix Mercury, Liberty graduate Avery Warley still found it hard to put together a sentence about what it all means.

"I think the most, the best word is, I'm just excited," a giddy Warley said. "I'm anxious. I'm just so, I'm speechless. The way it happened..."

Yep, that was pretty special. Warley is one of three free agents who survived final roster cuts last week. She will wear No. 23 for the Mercury, who open the season on Sunday at Minnesota at 12:30 p.m. The game will be televised by ABC.

This is a league where jobs are scarce, where first-round draft picks find themselves unemployed. Warley is grateful her agent found the opportunity in Phoenix and soon afterward, she was on a plane to training camp.

"My main goal was to show them everything that I had so I had no regrets," Warley said. "I had to show them everything my game had, so if I was to get cut, there was never, 'I should have done this. I could have done that.' I had to focus on what I could control. I couldn't control the decision. It turned out pretty good for me."

Agreed. In addition to the 6-3 center, only Aneika Henry (Atlanta) and Ziomara Morrison (San Antonio) made rosters as free agents. Warley felt good from the start, showing off the kind of rebounding prowess that distinguished her at Liberty, where her 1,282 career boards ranks first all time. In an exhibition against the Japanese national team on May 8, Warley scored eight with 13 boards.

"I definitely saw I could fit in with this team. I saw the chemistry I had with them," Warley said. "They play my type of basketball. Mostly I saw a lot of me in this team, and that gave me a lot of confidence."

Still, nothing was a given until Warley got the good word from team president and COO Amber Cox. That happened on Wednesday, one day before Warley turned 25.

As the team was preparing for media day, Cox welcomed her to the fold.

"I knew it was coming down to clutch," Warley said. "I just waited and was very patient, and when I came down for media day, she said congratulations to me."

Warley's first call was to her mother in Washington, D.C.

"She was so speechless," Warley said.  "I think she started crying. She had to sit down and process it. It was a good feeling all the way from Washington, D.C. to Arizona."

One of her new teammates is perhaps the most talented basketball player in the world: Diana Taurasi.

"She is an awesome person," Warley said. "I just talked to her and she was giving me words of wisdom, so I'm definitely in soaking in everything she tells me."

Mom has already circled July 1, when the Washington Mystics host the Mercury. Warley says everything that happened has been a highlight. She's learning to live the life of a professional basketball player, which is devoid of the distractions and responsibilities that come with being a collegiate athlete.

"It's nothing like being in college," said Warley, who is three classes shy of completing her master's in psychology. "It's not so structured. All you focus on is basketball, not homework or going to study hall. Now I can focus on basketball. This is what I do. It's my job."

No surprise, Warley remains humble about all of it.

"It is all God. I have no parts in it at all," she said. "I definitely worked really really hard when I got here. God always rewards hard work