Mohegan — Elizabeth Williams spent last summer interning at Duke hospital and enjoying sitting in on surgery.

Williams wants to be a doctor someday, but for now, she wants to play basketball.

“Cutting through defenses,” the Duke senior center-forward joked after being drafted fourth overall by the Connecticut Sun in Thursday night’s WNBA Draft at Mohegan Sun Arena.

“I want to be able to play basketball for a pretty long time.”

Williams, 6-foot-3, started four seasons for the Blue Devils and averaged 14.5 points and nine rebounds her senior year. She was a Women’s Basketball Coaches' Association All-American and its Defensive Player of the Year.

The Sun added another Duke player when they traded DePaul guard Brittany Hrynko, their second-round pick at No. 19, to the Atlanta Dream for veteran guard Jasmine Thomas.

Connecticut already had Duke point guard Chelsea Gray. It drafted her in the first-round in last year’s draft (11th overall) even though she’d miss the season after dislocating her right kneecap in February 2014.

“Another Duke kid,” Sun coach Anne Donovan said. “Go figure.”

The Sun ranked just seventh out of 12 teams in rebounding average last season (34). That became a bigger need when post Chiney Ogwumike had microfracture surgery on her right knee in January. The recovery time is 6-9 months.

Ogwumike, the 2014 Rookie of the Year, averaged 8.5 rebounds last season, seventh best in the WNBA.

No other player on the Sun roster averaged more than 5 rebounds last summer.

“I’ve seen (Williams) a lot living in North Carolina during the offseason,” Donovan said. “I’ve seen her a lot and talked to a lot of people. This kid is hungry and she’s ready.”

Connecticut benefited from Notre Dame’s Jewell Loyd and Minnesota’s Amanda Zahui B. opting to leave school early and declaring for the draft last week. Loyd was drafted No. 1 by the Seattle Storm, followed by Zahui B. to Tulsa.

“I’m thrilled to have Elizabeth,” Donovan said. “For most of this offseason, we never have a shot. I’m going to see Duke play and its like, ‘Well, it’s never going to happen.’ I kept drooling over (her).”

One of the biggest questions about Williams’ game is if she can consistently shoot away from the basket. She did most of her work around the rim at Duke.

“Expanding my range and just being a consistent mid-range shooter, that’s something that will be important in me making myself better,” Williams said. “(Being aggressive), that’s something that I focused on my senior year. Just being the aggressor offensively, and especially without our situation (at Duke). We didn’t have a lot of guards.”

Ogwumike said, “This year, she showed her offensive skills. She had a (33)-point game late in her career (against North Carolina on Jan. 25). I thought that, ‘Wow, this girl is something special. And she’s motivated. Everyone knows she wants to go to medical school, but she’s talked to me and said, ‘This is my time.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, I see the hunger in your eyes.’”

Donovan said Connecticut had been thinking about acquiring Thomas for a while. She was the Seattle Storm’s first-round pick in 2011 (12th overall). She’s started in 52 of 68 regular-season games with Atlanta the last two years and 10 of 11 playoff games. She’s played in 136 games and never missed one.

Thomas has averaged 7 points and 2.3 assists over four seasons.

“This trade ended up being, truthfully, I hate to say, gift, for us,” Donovan said. “I’m a fan of (Hrynko’s) game. I like her offense, but another young point guard for us probably wasn’t going to be the best fit.

“(She’ll be) mentoring Chelsea as she grows into what I think we’ll be a premiere point guard in this league.”

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED