04/13/26 08:57:00
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04/13 20:56 CDT National champion UCLA has a record night at the WNBA draft
with 5 first-round picks and 6 overall
National champion UCLA has a record night at the WNBA draft with 5 first-round
picks and 6 overall
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- The party isn't over for UCLA's national champions. The
Bruins had another big celebration at the WNBA draft.
Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice were taken with picks Nos. 4-6 on
Monday night, barely a week after helping the Bruins win their first NCAA
championship. UCLA became the first team to have five first-round selections,
and the first with six players selected in one draft.
In a whirlwind stretch where the Bruins were feted from coast to coast, the
good times hit their peak at the draft, where the best team this season took
its place among the best of all time.
"It's really hard to sum up because there's so much," Jaquez said. "I think
that we're just on a high right now. We just won the national championship. A
lot of us have also graduated college, which is a huge step and something to be
super proud of, especially at UCLA. And then we got to go to Jimmy Kimmel, a
Laker game, Clipper game, dance, have the celebration at Pauley Pavilion. We
went on ?Good Morning America' this morning. Obviously, a lot of us are here at
the draft tonight being drafted. It's just been a special moment."
The 6-foot-7 Betts was selected by the Washington Mystics, with Jaquez then
taken by the Chicago Sky. The expansion Toronto Tempo made Rice their first
draft pick with the No. 6 selection.
With coach Cori Close sitting up front near her players, the Bruins kept having
reasons to stand up and cheer. They were going so quickly that after Angela
Dugalic was taken at No. 9 to join Betts in Washington, she worried she'd miss
witnessing more big moments for her teammates.
Betts said she wasn't surprised, having watched how hard her teammates worked.
"These are like my sisters, and getting to watch your family do something like
that is amazing," Betts said. "But I mean, this team is just so special. We
knew the type of players that we had on the team, and to really just have this
night really showcase all of the things that we've worked on all season is just
amazing."
UCLA went 37-1, routing South Carolina on April 5 in the title game --- with
their seniors scoring all of their points in the Final Four --- and then made
WNBA history when Gianna Kneepkens was drafted by Connecticut with the 15th and
final pick of the first round. Close has said she doesn't care about records,
but that changed Monday.
"Well, I mean, I sort of do care about this one actually, because No. 1, it
helps us in recruiting. I think we've really taken a developmental approach to
this and to see it come to fruition the way it has is obviously really
gratifying," she said.
"Just to be a part of an historic night and for them to be so excited for each
other, that's sort of representative of how they've been all year long. But
it's a pretty cool record to be a part of."
UConn had the previous record of four first-round selections --- all in the
first six picks --- in 2002. Sue Bird was No. 1, Swin Cash No. 2, Asjha Jones
No. 4 and Tamika Williams No. 6 from a team that went 39-0.
Tennessee, in 1999 and again in 2008, had five players selected in the draft,
as did Notre Dame in 2019 and South Carolina in 2023. But those players weren't
all taken in the first round.
"I think it definitely demonstrates that being a selfless team, that maybe
giving up individual stats for team success, that you can win with that
formula. You can still be successful. You can win at a high level as a team but
you can also achieve individual goals," Rice said.
"We knew we all wanted to go to the WNBA. We all wanted to be pros, but that
wasn't the only focus during the season. It was winning, it was giving to each
other, it was how can we be the best team possible. In the process of doing
that, we still got the results that we wanted to at the end of the day, and
that's something that is really special."
Charlisse Leger-Walker was taken by the Sun in the second round, set to remain
teammates with Kneepkens.
The Bruins went to dinner together while in New York and were going to spend
more time together after the draft. But Kneepkens said they wouldn't be saying
their goodbyes yet.
"Yeah, those girls mean the most to me, and good thing we live in this day and
age and we have phones," she said. "So hopefully we'll keep in touch, and
obviously we'll see each other around."
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AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg contributed to this report.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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