College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday.
Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month.
While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year.
Photo: AFP
Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a highly underrated player, praising her poise, leadership and playmaking abilities.
“Though undersized, Chen’s ability to elevate teammates and control the tempo is similar to other guards,” an ESPN report said on Monday.
“Chen’s versatility and leadership make her a reliable, impactful addition at the next level, and she’s set to join a long line of UConn greats in the WNBA,” the report said.
Photo: AFP
Chen’s UConn teammate Paige Bueckers, who was the first player chosen in the draft, advocated for Chen and fellow teammate Aubrey Griffin to be selected.
“I think two teams or one team would be genius to add Kaitlyn Chen and Aubrey Griffin,” she said.
Griffin was selected seven picks after Chen by the Minnesota Lynx.
In her one year at UConn, the 1.75m-tall Chen averaged 6.9 points, 3.4 assists and 1.2 steals in 23 minutes per game.
Chen’s parents are Taiwanese immigrants to the US.
She was born and raised in San Marino, California.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS