Iowa’s Monika Czinano selected by LA Sparks in third round of WNBA draft

Iowa ladies’s basketball has reached new heights over the previous couple of seasons, and Monika Czinano has been on the middle of all of it.

Czinano, who was a freshman understudy to program legend Megan Gustafson, grew to become a historic participant herself because the fifth Iowa ladies’s participant to eclipse 2,000 factors and assist lead the Hawkeyes to their first nationwide championship recreation look this season. She left this system as top-of-the-line put up gamers within the nation; her effectivity particularly stands out as she led the nation in discipline aim proportion (67%) over her final two seasons.

Now, she’ll have a chance to play within the WNBA. Czinano was chosen by the Los Angeles Sparks within the third spherical of the WNBA draft Monday night time with the twenty sixth general choose. She’s the fifteenth draftee in Iowa ladies’s basketball historical past and the primary since Kathleen Doyle in 2020 (second spherical, Indiana Fever).

The Watertown, Minnesota native is a four-time Huge Ten All-First Workforce choice and two-time All-America honorable point out. She’s this system chief in video games performed (150), discipline aim proportion (67%), ranks second all-time in discipline objectives (952) and third all-time in factors (2,224). Alongside guard Caitlin Clark, they’re the primary duo to surpass 2,000 profession factors in the identical season in Huge Ten ladies’s basketball historical past.

Czinano’s draft buzz surged throughout Iowa’s historic NCAA Event run by which she averaged 16 factors and 6 rebounds towards a litany of notable opponents and put up gamers, together with No. 1 general draft choose Aliyah Boston (South Carolina) and LSU’s Angel Reese. Final week, Indiana Fever common supervisor Lin Dunn gave a public endorsement of Czinano’s skilled potential.

“No worry, bodily, robust, excessive power,” Dunn stated. “The factor for Monika is, she simply must get chosen by the fitting crew that has a spot open for her and it is all about what crew picks you. It is not likely the primary or second spherical. However is there a spot there for you?”

Czinano will get that chance in Los Angeles, a crew that posted a 13-23 report final season and is led by former WNBA all-stars Chiney Ogwumike and Nneka Ogwumike.