UNCASVILLE, Conn., April 16, 2015 – WNBA Draft 2015 presented by State Farm® featured the Seattle Storm selecting Notre Dame’s Jewell Loyd with the No. 1 overall pick. The Tulsa Shock chose Sweden native Amanda Zahui B. of Minnesota with the second overall selection, and the Storm used its second pick in the top three on UConn’s Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.

Loyd, the first Notre Dame player to be selected No. 1 overall in draft history, was a consensus First Team All-America selection and the ACC Player of the Year this season. She led the Fighting Irish to the national championship game the past two years and was named espnW’s 2014-15 National Player of the Year.

In just two active seasons, Zahui B. set a Minnesota record for career blocks (240). This season, she became the first Golden Gophers player named to the AP All-America First Team after ranking fourth in Division I in both rebounds (12.9 rpg) and blocks (4.09 bpg). Mosqueda-Lewis, a three-time national champion and All-America honoree, is the NCAA’s all-time leader in three-pointers (398).

With the fourth overall pick, the Connecticut Sun selected Duke’s Elizabeth Williams, who was the first ACC player to earn AP All-America honors all four seasons. The Chicago Sky rounded out the top five by selecting forward Cheyenne Parker, who averaged a double-double and set Middle Tennessee State’s single-season blocks mark this year.

The San Antonio Stars selected Wake Forest’s all-time scoring and rebounding leader Dearica Hamby with the sixth overall pick. After the Los Angeles Sparks tapped Central Michigan guard Crystal Bradford at No. 7, the Washington Mystics grabbed Dayton guard Ally Malott with the eighth overall selection. San Antonio traded the No. 9 pick to the New York Liberty in exchange for Alex Montgomery. With the ninth selection, the Liberty selected Brittany Boyd, California’s all-time record holder for assists and steals.

After Iowa standout Samantha Logic went 10th to the Atlanta Dream, the Liberty made its second trade of the night, acquiring the No. 11, No. 23, and No. 28 selections from the Minnesota Lynx in exchange for Anna Cruz and the No. 16 and No. 35 draft picks. With the 11th pick, New York grabbed UConn center Kiah Stokes, the second Huskies player drafted in the first round. To close out the opening round, the defending champion Phoenix Mercury selected Tennessee center Isabelle Harrison, a First Team All-SEC honoree, at No. 12.

The Shock tipped off the second round by grabbing Pittsburgh’s Brianna Kiesel at No. 13. Los Angeles selected Cierra Burdick from Tennessee with the 14th selection, while the Washington Mystics went with St. Joseph’s Natasha Cloud at 15.

Rounding out the rest of the second round: the Lynx selected Reshanda Gray from California (16th); the Sky picked Rutgers’ Betnijah Laney (17th); Phoenix went with Wichita State’s Alex Harden (18th); the Sun selected Brittany Hrynko from DePaul at No. 19 and later traded her to Atlanta in exchange for Jasmine Thomas; the Storm went with Vicky McIntyre from Oral Roberts (20th); the Indiana Fever tapped Kansas’ Chelsea Gardner (21st); the Sky selected Aleighsa Welch from South Carolina (22nd); the Liberty picked Stanford’s Amber Orrange (23rd); and the Mercury took Zofia Hruscakova out of Slovakia (24th).

The third round opened with Tulsa selecting Nevada-Reno’s Mimi Mungedi at No. 25 overall.
The remainder of the third round included Seattle grabbing Nneka Enamkpali from Texas (26th); the Liberty tapping Maryland’s Laurin Mincy at No. 27 and Wisconsin’s Michala Johnson at No. 28; the Dream selecting Tennessee’s Ariel Massengale (29th); the Stars tapping Dragana Stankovic from Serbia (30th); Los Angeles drafting Dayton’s Andrea Hoover (31st); the Mystics picking Marica Gajic from Bosnia and Herzegovina (32nd); San Antonio getting Iowa State’s Nikki Moody (33rd); Atlanta selecting Lauren Okafor from James Madison (34th); the Lynx going with Minnesota’s Shae Kelley (35th); and the Mercury closing out the draft by tapping Arizona State’s Promise Amukamara (36th).

The complete draft results are:

 

First Round

1. Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm), Notre Dame

2. Amanda Zahui B. (Tulsa Shock), Minnesota

3. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (Seattle Storm), UConn

4. Elizabeth Williams (Connecticut Sun), Duke

5. Cheyenne Parker (Chicago Sky), Middle Tennessee State

6. Dearica Hamby (San Antonio Stars), Wake Forest

7. Crystal Bradford (Los Angeles Sparks), Central Michigan

8. Ally Malott (Washington Mystics), Dayton

9. Brittany Boyd (New York Liberty), California

10. Samantha Logic (Atlanta Dream), Iowa

11. Kiah Stokes (New York Liberty), UConn

12. Isabelle Harrison (Phoenix Mercury), Tennessee

 

Second Round

13. Brianna Kiesel (Tulsa Shock), Pittsburgh

14. Cierra Burdick (Los Angeles Sparks), Tennessee

15. Natasha Cloud (Washington Mystics), St. Joseph’s

16. Reshanda Gray (Minnesota Lynx), California

17. Betnijah Laney (Chicago Sky), Rutgers

18. Alex Harden (Phoenix Mercury), Wichita State

19. Brittany Hrynko* (Connecticut Sun), DePaul

20. Vicky McIntyre (Seattle Storm), Oral Roberts

21. Chelsea Gardner (Indiana Fever), Kansas

22. Aleighsa Welch (Chicago Sky), South Carolina

23. Amber Orrange (New York LIberty), Stanford

24. Zofia Hruscakova (Phoenix Mercury), Slovakia

 

Third Round

25. Mimi Mungedi (Tulsa Shock), Nevada-Reno

26. Nneka Enamkpali (Seattle Storm), Texas

27. Laurin Mincy (New York Liberty), Maryland

28. Michala Johnson (New York Liberty), Wisconsin

29. Ariel Massengale (Atlanta Dream), Tennessee

30. Dragana Stankovic (San Antonio Stars), Serbia

31. Andrea Hoover (Los Angeles Sparks), Dayton

32. Marica Gajic (Washington Mystics), Bosnia and Herzegovina

33. Nikki Moody (San Antonio Stars), Iowa State

34. Lauren Okafor (Atlanta Dream), James Madison

35. Shae Kelley (Minnesota Lynx), Minnesota

36. Promise Amukamara (Phoenix Mercury), Arizona State

*Subsequently traded to Atlanta in exchange for Jasmine Thomas