Buckeyes in the WNBA: Former Ohio State players taken in the 1st round of the WNBA draft
There are a lot of WNBA mock drafts out there with current Ohio State guard Jacy Sheldon's name on it.
Earlier this season, Buckeyes' coach Kevin McGuff confirmed that there have been league scouts at both their practices and games. While they could have been there to check out multiple players, with Sheldon in her final year of eligibility, she very well might be one of those players.
Only time will tell if and where she is selected among the WNBA's three draft rounds this year, but if it happened to be in the first round, that would make Sheldon the sixth Buckeye to be selected within the first 12 picks.
Kelsey Mitchell: 2018
Though Kelsey Mitchell was recently passed on the NCAA women's all-time scoring list by Iowa's Caitlin Clark, her spot in the 2018 WNBA draft is forever etched in stone.
Drafted second, just behind future two-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson, Mitchell is one of two Buckeyes who've been selected this high in the draft.
Holding multiple Ohio State records such as overall career points (3,402) and most points in a single game (48), Mitchell has continued to put her talents on display with the Indiana Fever, the team she's been with since day one of her professional career. In her six seasons of play, she has already worked her way to third on the Fever's all-time scoring list.
Tayler Hill: 2013
With the fourth pick of the 2013 draft, the Washington Mystics selected Tayler Hill, making her the third player from the Buckeyes' 2010-11 starting lineup to be selected in the first round of a draft.
After having consecutive All-Big Ten first team seasons with Ohio State, Hill started her professional career with the Mystics before being traded to the Dallas Wings in 2018.
Hill's breakout season came in 2016 when led Washington in scoring, averaging 15.4 points per game. Just a few years later, Hill played her final WNBA game prior to suffering a season-ending knee injury in 2019.
Samantha Prahalis: 2012
Still standing strong as Ohio State women's all-time assists leading with 901, Samantha Prahalis was drafted by the Phoenix Mercury with the sixth pick. Coming from the 2010-11 starting lineup, the guard had the rockiest WNBA career out of all of Ohio State's first round selections.
Prahalis spent just over a season with Phoenix before she was waived and had a string of short-term contracts with the New York Liberty, Atlanta Dream and Los Angeles Sparks before the end of her WNBA career is 2014. Switching her focus to coaching, Prahalis is now St. John's women's basketball director of player development and advanced scouting.
Jantel Lavender: 2011
After being selected fifth by the Los Angeles Sparks, Jantel Lavender went on to have the most decorated and longest career of all the non-active players on the list.
The first player to be selected from the 2010-11 starting lineup, Lavender was the Big-Ten Player of the Year all four seasons with the Buckeyes. Spending eight of her 11 years in the WNBA with the Sparks, Lavender earned an all-star nod and was named the 2016 Sixth Player of the Year. That same season, Lavender won her first and only championship ring with Los Angeles.
Lavender remained in the league until 2022, jumping around to multiple teams after being traded to the Chicago Sky in 2019.
Jessica Davenport: 2007
The first and tied with Mitchell as the highest Ohio State WNBA first round pick, Jessica Davenport was taken second by the San Antonio Silver Stars but was immediately traded to the New York Liberty for former all-star Becky Hammon.
A Columbus native who made her mark with Ohio State, Davenport had a decent career in the WNBA, spending multiple seasons with the Liberty and the Indiana Fever before fizzling out of the league following the 2012 season.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Ohio State players taken in the 1st round of the WNBA draft
