Dream Takes Rhyne Howard As WNBA No. 1 Draft Pick

Howard averaged 20.5 points and 7.4 rebounds her senior year, leading her team in points, rebounds, three-pointers, steals and blocks.

The Indiana Fever took Baylor forward Nalyssa Smith with the Number 2 pick, and the Washington Mystics took Ole Miss center Shakira Austin with the third pick.

In a news conference before the WNBA draft Monday night, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert expressed her concern about Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia since February, and said the league is doing all it can to get her back home.

Engelbert said, “[W]e’re trying everything we can, every angle, working with her legal representation, her agent, elected leaders, the administration. Just everybody in our ecosystem to try and find ways to get her home safely and as quickly as we can.”