Haley Jones and Ashten Prechtel taken in WNBA Draft

8 months ago 2 min read

Seniors Haley Jones and Ashten Prechtel are WNBA sure, as Jones was picked sixth total by the Atlanta Dream and Prechtel thirty fourth within the third spherical by the Connecticut Solar throughout Monday’s draft.

Jones, a extremely anticipated first-round choose within the draft, had an excellent run with the Cardinal. Over the course of the guard’s school profession, she amassed 1535 factors, 889 rebounds, 396 assists, 107 blocks, 90 steals and 111 begins out of 118 video games performed. She was first or second on the staff in scoring, rebounding and assists for the earlier three seasons.

Hailing from Santa Cruz, Jones additionally has a strong profession accolades checklist, together with quite a few All-America honors. She was a 2022 Naismith Trophy Finalist, three-time Cheryl Miller Award Finalist, Most Excellent Participant of quite a few tournaments, 2022 Pac-12 Participant of the 12 months, 2022 Rainbow Wahine Showdown MVP and an ESPN High-10 NCAAW participant for the 2022-2023 season.

Jones is Stanford’s second consecutive first-rounder, following Lexie Hull ʼ22 within the 2022 Draft. Coincidentally, each Jones and Hull have been picked sixth total. Jones seems to be to convey myriad expertise to the Dream, together with her artful assists and aggressiveness within the paint.

Prechtel additionally had a celebrated profession at Stanford, accumulating 578 factors, 437 rebounds, 93 assists, 98 blocks and 37 steals in 1447 minutes of enjoying time. The previous five-star recruit shot 43% from the sphere and 32.5% from past the arc. Her profession accolades embody 2020 Sixth Participant of the 12 months, a Pac-12 All-Freshman Group honorable point out and two Pac-12 Tutorial Honor Roll nods.

Each performed on the 2021 NCAA championship-winning staff, gained three Pac-12 common season championships and two Pac-12 match championships, they usually solidified their reputations as a part of the so-called Funky 4 — alongside fellow seniors Hannah Bounce and Fran Belibi — at Stanford.

With Jones and Prechtel transferring on to the subsequent chapters of their respective basketball careers, head coach Tara VanDerveer says goodbye to three-fourths of the Funky 4. Ahead Fran Belibi seems to be to retire from basketball and will probably be attending Harvard within the fall to shift focus to her research. The departing seniors gained’t be the one hole within the Cardinal roster, as freshman guard Indya Nivar, junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu and freshman heart Lauren Betts, a former No. 1 recruit, have all entered the switch portal.

Regardless of these departures, the Cardinal — who will preserve core gamers corresponding to guards Bounce and freshman Talana Lepolo, in addition to their All-American junior ahead Cameron Brink — are nonetheless anticipated to be positioned within the high 25 subsequent season.