Dream take Louisville's Schimmel with eighth pick in WNBA draft
With the eighth pick in the WNBA draft, the Dream added an piece perfect for their uptempo style of play.
Atlanta took Louisville guard Shoni Schimmel, while in the second round selecting South Florida guard Inga Orekhova and USC forward Cassie Harberts with the 18th and 20th picks, respectively.
"We came into this yearâs draft with three needs -- a perimeter playmaker, a shooter and a post -- and we were able to find the player for each of those needs that we had at the top of our draft board," said Dream executive vice president and general manager Angela Taylor. "Training camp will be extremely competitive with those three players and the other players we signed during the offseason. In addition to our returning players, we expect all three draft picks to be ready to compete to help us reach our goal of a WNBA championship."
The 5-foot-9 Schimmel averaged 17.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game as a senior. She is fifth in NCAA Division I history with 387 career threes, five off the record of 392. Schimmel was the first player in Cardinals history to have at least 2,000 points and 500 assists.
Her point total of 2,174 ranks only behind current Dream star Angel McCoughtry's 2,779.
"We are very excited about Shoni Schimmel coming to Atlanta," said Dream head coach Michael Cooper. "She can play in an uptempo offense like we play, and is a player that can push the tempo and play multiple positions."
Said Schimmel: "I was very happy to hear my name called, and the fact that it's down the road in Atlanta will make the transition even easier. I know Atlanta has a great team and was in the Finals last year, and of course I know about Angel (McCoughtry) and what she's capable of. I watched them play last year and it was awesome, and now I'm getting ready to go practice and play with them. I'm just so excited.
"I like their style of play and look forward to bringing my style to the team. I like to pass but I also like to score. I'm just looking forward to getting down there and playing basketball again"
Orekhova was an All-AAC second-team pick after averaging 18.0 points and 8.2 rebounds as a junior with USF. She followed that up with 15.4 points and 7.3 rebounds as a senior. Harberts, who turned in at least 10 points and six rebounds a game in all four seasons in Los Angeles, led the Trojans to their first Pac-12 tournament title and helped the team to its first NCAA appearance since '06.
