UVA's Jocelyn Willoughby selected in 1st round of WNBA Draft

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (VirginiaSports.com) – Virginia women’s basketball senior guard Jocelyn Willoughby (East Orange, N.J.) was selected by the Phoenix Mercury with the tenth pick in the first round of the WNBA 2020 Draft, presented by State Farm.

After the completion of the draft, Willoughby was traded to the New York Liberty for Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the draft picks live on ESPN, withall of the draftees watching remotely.

Willoughby is the 11^th player in program history to be taken in a WNBA draft, and the fifth to be taken in the first round. She is the first Virginia player to be drafted since Monica Wright was the second overall pick in the 2010 draft.

She joins a Phoenix team that finished the 2019 season with a 15-19 record and includes players such as Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi. Former Notre Dame forward Brianna Turner is also a member of the Mercury.

Willoughby, an honorable mention for All-America honors, finished the season as the ACC scoring leader at 19.2 points per game, making her just the second player in program history to pace the conference in scoring. She also ranked 10th in the ACC in rebounding at 7.5 per game and was named All-ACC First Team in votes by the Blue Ribbon Panel and the league’s head coaches.

Willoughby, a third-team CoSIDA Academic All-American, was the first player in program history to be the recipient of the 2019-20 Kay Yow Award as the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Willoughby was also named to the 2019-20 All-ACC Academic Team, making her Virginia’s first four-time recipient of that honor.

All-Time Cavaliers Taken in the WNBA Draft

Wendy Palmer – 1997 Elite Draft, Utah Starzz, 2nd Round, 1^st pick (9^th overall)

Tammi Reiss – 1997, Utah Starzz, 1^st Round, 5^th pick

Tora Suber – 1997, Charlotte Sting, 1^st Round, 7^th pick

Dawn Staley – 1999, Charlotte Sting, 1^st Round, 9^th pick

Renee Robinson – 2000, Indiana Fever, 4^th round, 9^th pick

Svetlana Volnaya – 2001, Detroit Shock, 3^rd Round, 6^th pick (38^th overall)

Telisha Quarles – 2003, Phoenix Mercury, 3^rd Round, 4^th pick

Sharnee Zoll – 2008, LA Sparks, 3^rd Round, 1^st Pick (29^th overall)

Lyndra Littles – 2009 Connecticut Sun, 2^nd Round, 4^th Pick (17^th overall)

Monica Wright – 2010 Minnesota Lynx, 1^st Round, 2^nd pick