Elizabeth Pickney

Two Wildcats taken in fourth round of WNBA Draft

Two members of the Arizona women's basketball team were selected in the fourth round of the 2002 WNBA Draft on Friday.

Senior forward Elizabeth Pickney and center LaKeisha Taylor became the first two players in the Wildcat program history to be drafted the same year.

The Sacramento Monarchs selected Pickney, while the Indiana Fever drafted Taylor.

LaKeisha Taylor

Pickney, a first-team All-Pacific 10 Conference player, was the 12th pick in the fourth round of the draft.

"I was excited and surprised that Sacramento drafted me," Pickney said. "I just wanted to get the opportunity to get to play. I'll go to the training camp and try not to be nervous. I just need to do what I did to get there."

As UA's leading scorer with an average of 16.1 points per game, Pickney was the only Wildcat whostarted in all 28 games.

To cap off her senior year, Pickney was fourth in the Pac-10 in both blocked shots (1.21 per game) and free-throw percentage (83.4 percent).

With 86 double-digit scoring performances in her four years as a Wildcat, the UA forward ended her career without a single non-scoring performance.

Pickney made a lasting impression on the program's history.

She is the program's all-time leader in games started with 112 and blocked shots with 147.

With 1,620 career points and 736 rebounds, Pickney is second in Arizona's history in both categories.

"This is a great way to go out (my senior year) by being drafted," she said.

Taylor, the first pick of the fourth round, was the 49th pick in the overall draft.

In her senior year, Taylor averaged 9.6 points per game and grabbed an average of 5.7 rebounds per game.

She is tied for fourth place for UA's all-time career field goals with a 51.6 shooting percentage.

Taylor finished the year with six career double-doubles and 28 career double-digit performances.

Pickney and Taylor join a list of three former Wildcats who have been selected to the WNBA.

Reshea Bristol was the 50th overall pick in the fourth round in the 2001 draft by the Charlotte Sting.

Marte Alexander was selected 47th overall in the third round of the 2000 draft by the Los Angeles Sparks.

Adia Barnes was the first Wildcat drafted to professional women's basketball.

Barnes was the 32nd overall pick in the fourth round by the Sacramento Monarchs in the 1998 WNBA draft.

Although Sacramento and Indiana are far car rides from both girls' home state of Texas, Pickney is eager for both players' opportunities.

"I was proud LaKeisha got drafted and hope she does a good job in Indiana," Pickney said. "It's okay (that I wasn't drafted to Houston). I wasn't picky and I wasn't expecting Houston to draft me - that would have been too good to be true."