Last weekend, Khadijah Whittington missed an Indiana Fever exhibition game so she could attend her graduation ceremonies at North Carolina State.

This weekend should be just as memorable for the WNBA rookie.

The former William Fleming star has made her new team's roster, and will come off the bench Saturday when the Fever opens the regular season against the Washington Mystics.

"I still can't believe that this is actually happening -- playing in the WNBA, just being done with school," she said. "I'm just realizing -- no more schoolwork. This is my job, playing basketball.

"I'm just anxious to play. I'm just excited to be here."

She even has more than one employer.

Whittington said she has signed to play for a pro team in France -- Montpellier -- during the WNBA's off-season.

As a second-round draft pick of Indiana last month, Whittington will make $35,000 with the Fever this season. She said she will make "a lot more" in France but would not be more specific.

Whittington will be one of 12 players on the roster when Indiana hosts the Mystics at 7 p.m. Saturday on NBA TV.

"Once you make it [to the WNBA], everybody's good and you have to find a way to make yourself different," she said. "I'm a hustle player. That's what I've been doing."

The former All-ACC pick is undersized for a WNBA power forward at 6-foot-1, but Fever coach Lin Dunn has been impressed with Whittington's preseason play.

"She was the steal of the second round," said Dunn, whose team had only one draft pick last month.

"She's aggressive defensively. She attacks the boards. She's got some really great back-to-the-basket moves.

"Because she is such a leaper, because she's so physically aggressive, she's like one of those kids that by the end of the game, you swear she's grown four inches because she plays tall. What's going to happen with posts that are bigger, they're going to have to figure out how to deal with her quickness.

"We're not going to worry about what her height is. We're just going to let her play."

Whittington averaged 17 minutes in Indiana's first two exhibition games and started one of them. She averaged 4.5 points and 3 rebounds.

"I am small for the position, but I hold my own down there," she said. "I'm looking pretty good. Nobody's really scoring on me. I'm able to get my shot off.

"I'm used to banging with the taller and bigger girls. ... I'm used to playing bigger defenders. It's not even an adjustment because I'm so used to it. I'm going to be just fine."

Whittington averaged 16.8 points and 11.7 rebounds for the Wolfpack this year.

"She is relentless going to those boards. We love that about her," Dunn said.

Whittington is enjoying the faster pace of WNBA games, but she said adjusting to pro basketball has not been easy.

"I just need to slow down and execute," she said. "I'm just 100 miles an hour all the time, and that's one of the things Coach is focused on, telling me to slow down."

Learning the plays of her new team isn't easy, either.

Of course, after the season, she will have to learn French.

"Comment allez-vous -- I know that," she said with a laugh.