By Kindsey Bernhard
NKyTribune intern
With the conclusion of their basketball careers at the University of Kentucky, Evelyn Akhator and Makayla Epps turned their focus to preparing for the 2017 WNBA Draft.
And Thursday night, Akhator was the third pick of the draft, taken by the Dallas Wings of the Western Conference.
Epps was drafted 33rd overall, the ninth pick in the third round. She was taken by the Chicago Sky of the Eastern Conference.
Akhator and Epps are the first Kentucky players selected in the WNBA Draft since DeNesha Stallworth was taken 25th overall in the 2014 draft. In his 10-year tenure with the Wildcats, Matthew Mitchell has now had five players selected in the WNBA Draft. Victoria Dunlap was the second-ever UK player selected back in 2011, while Mathies was previously the highest pick in school history going 10th in 2013.
“I am very proud of Evelyn and Makayla,” Mitchell said. “They have grown so much while they have been at Kentucky. Both of them have tremendous character that will help them be very successful. I am very happy for them on this exciting day. They have both worked extremely hard to get to this point. I know they will work even harder to realize their dream of playing in the WNBA. We are behind them all the way.”
Akhator is the highest draft pick in the history of the UK Hoops program. This is the first year that two players have been taken in the same draft.
Akhator and Epps have been training with Ted Butler at Operation Athlete in Lexington. Butler is a sports performance and athlete development specialist
Draft projections for the two former UK student-athletes were off the mark.
According to Draft Site (DraftSite.com), Epps was projected in the first round as the 11th overall pick to the Los Angeles Sparks.
Epps finished her career at UK with 1,790 total points, averaging 13.5 points per game with 408 career assists for 3.06 assists per game. Both numbers rank top 10 in program history.
Draft Site projected Akhator would be picked in the second round by the New York Liberty as the 14th overall pick. She was the third overall pick.
Akhator spent only two seasons at UK but finished her career tied for third in school history in double-doubles, second all-time in rebounding average, eighth all-time in scoring average and fourth in field-goal percentage. She completed her senior season with 18 double-doubles, which ranked top 20 nationally and second in the Southeastern Conference.
The Associated Press named Epps and Akhator as All-America Honorable Mentions. This was Epps’ third-straight season as an AP honorable mention, but Akhator’s first.
The WNBA opens training camps on April 23 and will start its 21st season on May 13.
South Carolina’s Alaina Coates, Allisha Gray and Kaela Davis were taken second, fourth and tenth respectively, their stock undoubtedly rising after the team won the national championship.
Kindsey Bernhard is a journalism senior at the University of Kentucky. She is from Ft. Wright and played high school basketball at Notre Dame Academy.