Story courtesy of UTSports.com
UNCASVILLE, Connecticut – Tennessee’s Bashaara Graves became the sixth Lady Vol of the Holly Warlick era to hear her name called during the WNBA Draft, going with the 22nd overall pick in the second round to the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday night at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Graves will join the WNBA defending champion Lynx who have also won three of the last five WNBA Championships, but are looking for their first repeat.
Graves, a 6-foot-2 power forward from Clarksville, Tenn. (Clarksville H.S.) is the 37th Lady Vol to be selected by the WNBA. She follows in the footsteps of last year’s UT trio of Isabelle Harrison (1st Rd., 12th pick, Phoenix), Cierra Burdick (2nd Rd., 14th pick, Los Angeles) and Ariel Massengale (3rd Rd., 29th pick, Atlanta).
Averaging 10.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game for Tennessee in 2015-16, Graves earned AP All-America Honorable Mention and AP All-SEC Second Team accolades as a senior. She finished her career with averages of 10.9 points and 7.5 rebounds while starting 128 of 139 games, tallying 29 double-doubles to rank ninth in school history.
One of only five players in program history to tally at least 1,000 rebounds and 1,500 points, Graves finished third all-time with 1,044 boards and was 19th in scoring at 1,509. She did so while helping Tennessee to a 108-34 record while posting NCAA Elite Eight finishes in 2013, 2015 and 2016 and SEC titles in 2013 (regular season), 2014 (tournament) and 2015 (regular season).
Graves joins 11 others players on current WNBA rosters. Lady Vols around the league include Burdick, Massengale and Simmons in Atlanta, Vicki Baugh and Glory Johnson at Dallas, Tamika Catchings with Indiana, Shekinna Stricklen at Connecticut, Candace Parker and Michelle Snow with Los Angeles, Harrison in Phoenix and Kara Lawson at Washington.