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NEW YORK () — UCLA basketball made history in the WNBA draft on Monday after the Bruins became the first team to have five first-round selections, and the first with six players selected in the same draft.
Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, Angela Dugalic, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker all had their names get called, barely a week after helping the Bruins win their first NCAA championship.
The Washington Mystics selected Betts with No. 4 pick while Jaquez went No. 5 overall to the Chicago Sky.
Rice will join the expansion team, the Toronto Tempo, after being selected with the No. 6 pick.
Dugalic will join Betts in Washington after the Mystics selected her with the No. 9 pick.
The Connecticut Sun selected Gianna Kneepkens at No. 15, making her the fifth UCLA player selected in the first round.
In the second round, Leger-Walker was also picked by the Sun.
The Bruins became the first team to have five players selected in the first round. The Bruins made more WNBA history by becoming the first team to have six players selected in the same draft.
“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.”
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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