Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

The 2023 WNBA Draft took place last night and some of the top players both in the NCAA and internationally heard their name get called and their dreams realized as they are one step closer to stepping onto the court in a WNBA game.

The University of South Carolina and University of Maryland combined to send five players in the first round. South Carolina saw five players get drafted, starting with Consensus number one pick Aliyah Boston going first overall to the Indiana Fever. Terps guard Diamond Miller went second to the Minnesota Lynx. The NCAA scoring leader Maddy Siegrist out of Villanova went third to the Dallas Wings and playing alongside Arike Ogunbowale, it will be fun to see the share of points between these two star players as the WNBA season goes on.

Washington drafted Stephanie Soares, a forward out of Iowa State, before trading the rights to Dallas for a future first and second round pick. Dallas, on the clock at five, drafted Lou Lopez Sénéchal out of UCONN. The three time All-MAAC First Team and 2021-22 MAAC Player of the Year and Tournament MVP averaged 15.5 points with the Huskies in her transfer season to go with 3.1 rebounds shooting 47% and 44% with a 85 FT%.

Once the Atlanta Dream selected Haley Jones out of Stanford with their sixth overall pick, the Indiana Fever were back on the clock, and it was time for a bit of home magic. The Fever didn’t have to look far to find their next pick, in fact they just had to look to the Indiana Hoosiers, and guard Grace Berger. Grace averaged 12.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and shot 45.2% over her career and now goes to another team in Indiana where she will be the newest addition to the young core they’ve built.

Up next at eight was the Atlanta Dream once again, and the highest drafted Canadian since 2013. Laeticia Amihere, the forward who backed up Aliyah Boston at South Carolina and made her impact with her stellar footwork and abilities on the glass, shooting 44% from inside and averaging 4.1 rebounds per game. Laeticia has incredible potential with the skillset she has and what she showed in Dawn Staley’s program, and the Dream will definitely do whatever they can to unlock that potential.

The third player out of South Carolina came two picks later, after Jordan Horston from Tennessee went to Seattle as the Storm look to rebuild their backcourt losing Hall of Fame bound Sue Bird. Zia Cooke saw her dreams come true at the 10th overall pick as she headed to the LA Sparks and prepares for the next steps in her incredible journey. Zia showed the world what she could do throughout the NCAA tournament, and if that is a hint of what we’ll see at the next level, not only LA Sparks fans, but fans of basketball should be excited to see this young guard do her thing.

To end the first round, Abby Meyers from Maryland went to the Wings giving Maryland their second first-round pick of the 2023 draft, and Maïa Hirsch from France went to Minnesota.

Full WNBA Draft results: