NEW YORK (AP) — The party isn't over for UCLA's national champions. The Bruins are having 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, and UCLA became the first team to have five first-round selections.
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. The Bruins 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 and then made WNBA history when Gianna Kneepkens was drafted by Connecticut with the 15th and final pick of the first round.
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 Bruins were hoping for a sixth. Charlisse Leger-Walker also joined her teammates in New York and had a chance to be picked.
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