Stanford’s Hull headed to Indiana

NEW YORK — Lexie Hull helped propel Stanford to a national championship and two Final Fours.

She now hopes to help lead a resurgence of one of the WNBA’s perennial lottery teams, the Indiana Fever, and she’s bringing plenty of reinforcements with her.

Hull, selected No. 6 in Monday’s WNBA draft, was one of four first-round picks by the Fever. Indiana drafted two Baylor players, NaLyssa Smith at No. 2 and Queen Egbo at No. 10, and Louisville’s Emily Engstler at No. 4.

“We have four top picks, so there is the opportunity for this team to grow tremendously,” Smith said.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert began the draft by announcing the selection of Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard by Atlanta with the No. 1 pick. The Dream, 8-24 last season, traded up two spots last week to acquire the No. 1 pick from the Washington Mystics.

The Mystics then chose Shakira Austin from Mississippi third.

The Fever, who won their only WNBA title in 2012, had the worst record in the league last year at 6-26 and haven’t made the playoffs since 2016. Indiana hasn’t had much luck in the draft recently, with none of the team’s firstround picks from the past three seasons still on the roster.

The four picks this year, including Hull — among the Cardinal’s all-time leaders in points (1,402, 24th) and 3-pointers (191, 11th) — figure to change that.

Hull, whose 78 steals as a senior ranked 30th nationally, was one of three Pac-12 players to go in the first eight picks. New York drafted Oregon’s Nyara Sabally fifth and Las Vegas drafted Mya Hollingshed of Colorado eighth.

It was the sixth straight year the Pac-12 had multiple firstround picks, more than any other conference.

Sabally got to practice with New York point guard Sabrina Ionescu when the two were at Oregon.

“Sab is such an amazing point guard,” Sabally said of the Miramonte-Orinda alum. “I saw her in practice every day and am excited to share the court with her.”

Other first-round picks included Northwestern’s Veronica Burton (seventh pick, Dallas), Tennessee’s Rae Burrell (ninth, Los Angeles); Florida Gulf Coast’s Kierstan Bell (11th, Las Vegas) and Michigan State’s Nia Clouden (12th, Connecticut).

The WNBA season tips off May 6, with training camps opening this week.