All six of the UCLA Bruins selected in the WNBA Draft last month made their regular season WNBA debuts this week with the season opening up. It was a quick turnaround for the NCAA championship-winning seniors as it was just over a month between the Final Four and the start of the WNBA season.
None of the Bruins had a jaw-dropping debut, but all six got rotational minutes to begin their WNBA careers. Let’s swipe through and see how each player did individually.
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Lauren Betts made her debut on Friday in the Mystics defeating the Toronto Tempo 68-65 to kick off the season. It was a quiet game for the No. 4 overall pick, with Betts not scoring in 12 minutes.
Betts went 0-4 from the field but did grab five rebounds in her limited action.
Washington Mystics: Angela Dugalic
Angela Dugalic made her WNBA debut alongside Betts on the Mystics, and unlike Betts, Dugalic scored in her debut. She did score just two points in her 12 minutes, going 1-4 from the field and grabbing two rebounds.
The Mystics got the Opening Night win despite getting very little production from their frontcourt rookie.
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Toronto Tempo: Kiki Rice
A third Bruin made her debut in the Mystics-Tempo showdown with Kiki Rice playing for Toronto in their first-ever franchise game. Rice scored zero points in 18 minutes off of the bench, shooting 0-3 with three rebounds and assists.
Unlike the Mystics rookies, Rice held a positive +/- on the court for the Tempo.
The Chicago Sky got a 98-83 win to begin their season over the Portland Fire with Gabriela Jaquez providing 10 points and seven rebounds.
Jaquez got the starting nod, playing 32 minutes, shooting 3-7 from the field. Jaquez added two steals and two assists to round out her impressive debut.
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The Sun were hosed down 106-75 by the New York Liberty in their season opener but Gianna Kneepkens did provide some offense off the bench for the Sun. Kneepkens scored seven points in 13 minutes on 3-8 shooting.
Kneepkens, the knock-down shooter, did hit her first WNBA three, going 1-4 from deep. Kneepkens added five rebounds in the loss.
Connecticut Sun: Charlisse Leger-Walker
Charlisse Leger-Walker played 21 minutes off of the bench for the Sun in their blowout loss. Leger-Walker scored four points on 2-9 shooting.
Leger-Walker was one of three rookies getting minutes for the Sun, as Connecticut rode a rookie-heavy bench unit.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Swipe through how UCLA’s rookies fared in their WNBA debuts
