Seven from Stanford in WNBA

STANFORD, Calif. – The WNBA’s twenty eighth season ideas off tonight and 7 gamers drafted out of Stanford are on the opening-day rosters of the league’s 12 franchises. The Cardinal’s seven within the league are the fourth-most amongst all colleges (UConn – 16, South Carolina – 10, Notre Dame – 8).
 
Coming into her thirteenth WNBA season, Nneka Ogwumike made a free-agent transfer to Seattle this season following a dozen years in Los Angeles. The 2016 WNBA MVP and a six-time All-WNBA choose, Ogwumike is coming off one other sturdy season, ending sixth within the league in each scoring (19.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.8 rpg).
 
Ogwumike is joined on the Storm by Kiana Williams. Initially drafted by the Storm in 2021, Williams appeared in 14 video games in 2021 and 2022 and makes her return to the WNBA after wanting sharp in Seattle’s remaining preseason sport, scoring 9 factors on 3-of-6 taking pictures.
 
Cameron Brink will change into the thirty fourth Stanford participant to seem in a WNBA sport as soon as she steps on the courtroom for the Los Angeles Sparks for the primary time. The second general choose within the 2024 WNBA Draft, Brink had an outstanding senior season through which she shot 51.1 p.c from the sector and averaged 17.4 factors per sport to go together with 11.9 rebounds and three.7 blocks. A 3-time All-American and two-time Nationwide Defensive Participant of the 12 months, Brink was the one participant within the nation to common 17.0 factors, 11.0 rebounds and three.0 blocks per sport final yr, and completed with a PER of 45.75, the perfect mark for a significant convention participant since 2018-19.
 
Lexie Hull enters her third skilled season with the Indiana Fever after being taken with the sixth general choose in 2022. She has appeared in 56 profession video games and began 29, together with 5 final season, averaging 4.3 factors and a pair of.2 rebounds in 17 minutes per sport. Hull had the fourth-year choice on her rookie scale contract train by the group on Friday.
 
Fellow 2021 nationwide champion Haley Jones enters her sophomore season with the Atlanta Dream. Jones performed in all 40 video games for Atlanta in 2023, beginning six. She scored a career-high 23 in opposition to Las Vegas on Aug. 22, had a season-high 9 rebounds in opposition to New York on June 13, and recorded a personal-best 9 assists in opposition to the Connecticut Solar on June 15.
 
Alanna Smith signed a two-year take care of the Minnesota Lynx on Jan. 31 following a season in Chicago. Smith noticed motion in 38 video games with the Sky and averaged career-highs throughout the board with 9.2 factors, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks in 26.5 minutes per sport. A Most Improved Participant finalist, she ranked within the league’s high ten in a number of classes, together with first in two-point taking pictures (62.6%), seventh in whole blocks (50), ninth in offensive rebound p.c (8.0), eighth in block proportion (4.1) and steal proportion (2.5). 
 
Karlie Samuelson signed a two-year take care of the Washington Mystics on Feb. 1 after showing in 76 video games with the Los Angeles Sparks (2023, 2021, 2019, 2018), Phoenix Mercury (2022), Seattle Storm (2021) and Dallas Wings (2019). With the Sparks final season, Samuelson had career-best averages of seven.7 factors, 3.0 rebounds and a pair of.0 assists in 34 video games. She additionally shot a career-high 46.3 p.c from the sector and 94.1 p.c from the free throw line. She was sixth within the WNBA in three-point proportion, taking pictures 42.6 p.c, and joined Jackie Younger (Aces), Chelsea Grey (Aces) and Lexie Brown (Sparks) as the one gamers to shoot no less than 45 p.c from the sector and 40 p.c from deep.
 
For the reason that WNBA’s inaugural season, 33 former Stanford gamers have appeared in a regular-season sport and 7 gamers have received a mixed eight WNBA championships.