Onyenwere picked No. 6 by N.Y. Liberty
Michaela Onyenwere made history Thursday as the first Coloradan selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft.
The New York Liberty selected Onyenwere, a former Ms. Colorado Basketball at Grandview, with the 6th overall pick. The versatile 6-foot forward is coming off a dazzling career at UCLA where she became the program’s first twotime AP All-American.
Over Onyenwere’s final three years with the Bruins, she averaged 18.8 points while emerging as UCLA’s most potent offensive threat. A late basketball bloomer, Onyenwere didn’t start playing until she was 12, and made large strides in the technical parts of her game while in college.
Team USA experience also helped expand Onyenwere’s shooting and her defensive abilities, as the 21-year-old won a bronze medal in the USA Basketball 3-on-3 National Championship in 2019 and also competed in the Pan-American Games that year.
While at Grandview, Onyenwere was the state’s first three-time Gatorade Player of the Year and led the Wolves to their first state title, a Class 5A crown in 2017. She picked UCLA over Arizona State, Tennessee, Duke and Louisville as the state’s most highly-touted recruit since ThunderRidge’s Abby Waner, to whom Onyenwere is second on the all-time Colorado Class 5A scoring list.
Prior to Onyenwere (pronounced Own-yen-were-ey), Mesa Ridge’s Kylee Shook was previously the state’s highest-drafted player when the Liberty selected her with the first pick of the second round (No. 13 overall) last year out of Louisville. There have now been 11 Coloradans picked in the WNBA Draft.
In addition to Shook, other Coloradans drafted in the second round include Highlands Ranch/ UConn’s Ann Strother in 2006, Duke’s Waner in 2009, and Broomfield/Iowa State’s Anna Prins and Sierra/CU’s Chucky Jeffery, both in 2013.