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    CT Sun
    Thursday, April 18, 2024

    With the fourth pick in the WNBA Draft, the Connecticut Sun take ...

    Duke's Elizabeth Williams, left, during this year's NCAA tournament, is a possible first-round pick for the Connecticut Sun during today's WNBA Draft, as the Sun try to fill the rebounding void left by the injury to Chiney Ogwumike, last season's Rookie of the Year.(Gerry Broome/AP Photo)

    The Connecticut Sun head into tonight’s WNBA Draft with the following needs: everything.

    The Sun have the fourth overall pick in the draft at Mohegan Sun Arena (7 p.m., ESPN2).

    Connecticut rebuilt last season with a young team and finished with the league’s third-worst record (13-21). It was the second-fewest number of wins in franchise history with the 2013 season being the dregs (10-24). It also shot a league-worst 41.4 percent and was seventh out of 12 in rebounding (34).

    Those issues have been exacerbated during the offseason. Post Chiney Ogwumike, the 2014 Rookie of the Year and the team’s best player, will miss at least part of the season after microfracture surgery on her right knee in January. Guard Katie Douglas, one of the team’s few veterans and best shooter, continues to struggle with her back.

    “I think (our needs) are equal,” Connecticut coach Anne Donovan said last week.

    Notre Dame guard Jewell Loyd and Minnesota center Amanda Zahui B. will be among the first three picks.

    Odds are that at least two of these three will be available at No. 4: California forward Reshanda Gray, UConn wing Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Duke post Elizabeth Williams.

    “They could use another shooter on the perimeter,” ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo said. “I would think that based on Chiney being out that the post would be a high priority for them, someone that will do what Chiney (Ogwumike) has done.

    “Neither Reshanda Gray or Elizabeth Williams are Chiney, but I think either one of them would be good for Connecticut in terms of helping with rebounding.”

    There’s a good chance the Sun will go with a post given that Ogwumike had a team-leading 8.5 rebounds per game. No one else on the roster averaged more than five.

    Williams (6 feet, 3 inches) started four seasons at Duke and ranks in the top four in games started (132), points (1,955), rebounding (1,078) and blocks (426). She averaged 14.5 points and 9 rebounds her senior season and was both a Women’s Basketball Coaches' Association All-American and its Defensive Player of the Year honoree.

    Gray (6-3) was the 2015 Pac-12 Player of the Year and a third team Associated Press All-American. She averaged 17.4 points and 7.1 rebounds this season and is the school’s all-time field goal leader at 55.8 percent.

    “They’re both very good rebounders and defenders,” Lobo said. “Elizabeth is a better shot blocker and a better defender, too, than Gray. Both finish around the rim. Neither is going to consistently hit 15-footers for you, but they can put the ball on the ground. Gray is prone to getting in foul trouble. Part of it is her aggressiveness to get rebounds, but I think both will be pretty good pros.

    “I don’t know if you can find an all-star at No. 4 (this year), but I think that both can contribute to the Sun this year.”

    Mosqueda-Lewis will be the hometown favorite for Connecticut to select. She won her third national championship with the Huskies last week, is a three-time All-American, and is the NCAA’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals (398). She averaged 14.9 points and shot 48.8 percent from the 3-point line, best in the nation at any level.

    “I think Kaleena will be one of the best shooters in the league the moment she steps on the floor,” Lobo said. “There’ll always be questions about her ability to defend players on the perimeter. I think she can get better at that as her body matures and her game matures. Right now, her rookie contributions will be on offense.”

    UConn center Kiah Stokes may go as early as the late first round.

    n.griffen@theday.com

    Twitter: @MetalNED

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