Cori Close could barely keep her seat warm.
Time after time, pick after pick, the UCLA women’s basketball coach rose Monday evening to celebrate one of her players getting taken in the WNBA draft.
Three consecutive selections in the first round. Five selections in the first 15. A record six selections overall.
Close’s players acknowledged their smiling coach in return, center Lauren Betts flashing fours-up on her way to the stage after being selected by the Washington Mystics with the No. 4 pick.
That was just the start of a record-tying flurry in which guard Gabriela Jaquez went to the Chicago Sky with the No. 5 pick and point guard Kiki Rice went to the Toronto Tempo with the No. 6 pick.
In a matter of minutes, UCLA became only the second school to produce three consecutive draft picks, joining UConn in 2016.
“I want to say I’m surprised but I’m not,” Betts told reporters at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York, “because I just know how talented all my teammates are, and they deserve every single bit of this night. They’ve worked so hard and I’ve seen their journeys. These are like my sisters, and getting to watch your family do something like that is amazing.”
When forward Angela Dugalic went No. 9 to Washington and guard Gianna Kneepkens went No. 15 to the Connecticut Sun, the Bruins had generated five first-round picks, breaking the record of four set by UConn in 2002.
There was another record to fall when point guard Charlisse Leger-Walker went No. 18 to Connecticut, giving UCLA six draftees in a single year. Leger-Walker, whom Close predicted would be the steal of the draft, also became the first player from New Zealand selected in the history of the draft.
“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,” Rice said of UCLA generating so many draft picks. “You can still be successful. You can win at a high level as a team but you can also achieve individual goals.”
Jaquez and Dugalic shot up the draft charts after strong showings in the NCAA Tournament. Displaying her well-rounded game, Jaquez tallied 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists during the Bruins’ championship victory over South Carolina. Dugalic logged two double-doubles despite coming off the bench.
“One thing that was really special about our UCLA team is they’re just incredible players all around,” Kneepkens said. “So I think it’s a skill to know how to play with great players. And you obviously need that in the WNBA. I feel like I got great practice with that. I’m just going to continue to do that.”
Betts and Dugalic will join a rival in former USC star Kiki Iriafen on the Mystics’ roster as well as an ally in UCLA assistant coach Michaela Onyenwere, who recently signed with the team.
“I’m still going to call her coach Mic,” Betts cracked, “just to get on her nerves.”
As soon as her name was called, Betts rose from her seat to hug her mother, father, sister Sienna and brother Dylan. Only minutes later, after Jaquez heard her name called, she performed a similar routine with her family as they all FaceTimed with Jaime Jaquez Jr., the former UCLA star who now plays for the Miami Heat.
Dugalic thanked her family in her native Serbian and Kneepkens made the best quip of the night when asked about her five older brothers and who taught her to shoot.
“Not any of them,” Kneepkens said, prompting laughter.
The rookies will be the best paid in league history thanks to the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement. Betts will make $407,163 in her first season, Jaquez will make $380,219 and Rice will make $355,058.
“I feel so incredibly grateful for all the women who have fought for what they’ve earned,” said Kneepkens, who will make $289,133 as a rookie. “I mean, just to see what they’ve done for the past 30 years is incredible.
“So to know that there’s women I can look up to in the league that are willing to do that, I think it helps me want to do that and continue to grow the league as I step into it.”
