The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
UConn’s Azurá Stevens declares for WNBA draft
The UConn women’s basketball team is about to add to its impressive total of first-round draft picks in the WNBA Draft, but the latest addition is a player who figured to be a centerpiece of the 2018-19 Huskies.
Azurá Stevens, the Most Outstanding Player of the American Athletic Conference tournament, has declared for the draft, joining graduating seniors Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams to give UConn three likely first-round picks in the April 12 draft.
“I’d like to thank the coaches, my teammates and the fans at the University of Connecticut for helping me grow and supporting me as a player,” Stevens said in a release from UConn. “I will miss this program and all that it has been to me. It’s been a lifelong dream for me to play in the WNBA, and I’m excited for this opportunity God has presented me with.”
Although Stevens is a junior eligibility wise, the transfer from Duke is four years removed from high school, making her eligible for the draft.
“We wish Azurá nothing but the best and we’re going to be there to support her in any way we can,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Z and her family have given this a lot of thought and feel this is the right time to pursue this.”
Stevens averaged 14.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in her only season at UConn. One of three players to appear in all 37 games this season, the 6-foot-6 Stevens led UConn with 100 offensive rebounds and 76 blocked shots to go along with 10 double-doubles.
Late in the regular seaSAN
son after a game at Gampel Pavilion, Stevens was asked about the possibility of turning pro at season’s end and didn’t provide an indication of which way she was leaning.
“I haven’t really put a lot of thought into it so I don’t know what is going to happen,” Stevens said. “I never came into the season saying I was going to leave or I was going to stay so I am
kind of focused on the present and enjoying what we have here right now.”
If Nurse, Stevens and Williams all go in the first round, it would make the second time in the last three drafts that three former Huskies were taken in the first round. Barring the unforeseen, it would mark the fourth time in the last five years that at least two UConn players were first rounders.
UConn will be without three of its top six scorers from a team that was undefeated
before an overtime 91-89 loss to eventual national champion Notre Dame at the Final Four.
Leading scorer and twotime All-American Katie Lou Samuelson, fellow rising senior Napheesa Collier as well as junior to be Crystal Dangerfield will form the nucleus of a team looking for its record 12th straight Final Four appearance. The role for highly touted freshman Megan Walker already was expected to expand with the departure of Nurse and Williams.
With Stevens also leaving, naturally she figures to be a significant part of the rotation during her sophomore year. Incoming freshmen Olivia NelsonOdoda, a 6-foot-4 forward, and Christyn Williams, a 5-foot-11 guard, will be joined by the other returning players Molly Bent, Kyla Irwin, Batouly Camara, Mikayla Coombs and Lexi Gordon.