University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Seniors Eye WNBA Draft
April 13, 2015 | Women's Basketball
WNBA DRAFT | DRAFT INVITEES | BURDICK BIO | HARRISON BIO | MASSENGALE BIO | LADY VOLS IN THE WNBA
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Three Tennessee seniors await the fate of their basketball future this week, and they'll receive at least some initial feedback on Thursday night via the 2015 WNBA Draft.
WNBA Draft 2015 presented by State Farm will be held at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. ESPN2 will provide coverage and analysis of the first round beginning at 7 p.m. ET Thursday, and ESPN3 will air the second and third rounds beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Isabelle Harrison, UT's two-time AP Honorable Mention All-American and All-SEC First Team performer, has been invited to attend the festivities along with 11 other first-round hopefuls. She will do so along with UT head coach Holly Warlick as well as assistants Dean Lockwood, Kyra Elzy and Jolette Law.
While they won't be making the trip to Uncasville, Harrison's teammates Cierra Burdick and Ariel Massengale are certainly candidates to be taken in the three-round draft as well. Some mock drafts have Harrison being taken in the first round, and Burdick and Massengale going in the second.
In 21 games before suffering a season-ending ACL injury to her right knee vs. Kentucky on Feb. 15, Harrison paced Tennessee with 12.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per contest. The 6-foot-3 center recorded seven double-doubles to finish sixth in UT history with 31 for her career. She also became the 39th Lady Vol to score 1,000 points, finishing with 1,071.
Burdick, a 6-2 forward, averaged 11.0 points and 7.6 rebounds, hit 82.5 percent of her free throws and led Tennessee in assists with 91. She also was third with 38 steals, earning AP Honorable Mention All-America and first-team All-SEC accolades from the league's coaches. She led the Big Orange with nine double-doubles in 2014-15 and wound up with 1,072 career points.
Massengale, meanwhile, averaged 11.5 points and was the team's leading three-point shooter, draining 74 for the No. 6 season tally and No. 5 UT career total at 164. The 5-7 guard became the third Lady Vol to finish with 1,000 points and 500 assists, tallying 1,161 and 518. That career assists total ranks No. 4 all-time at Tennessee. She joined Burdick on the Spokane Region All-Tournament Team.
Since 1997, when Dena Head and Daedra Charles were taken with the No. 1 and No. 8 picks in the first round of a special Elite Draft, Tennessee has had 33 players chosen in the WNBA Draft. Including free agents, 38 Lady Vols have continued their careers in the WNBA.
Last season, six Tennessee women concluded the season on rosters. That group included WNBA All-Stars Tamika Catchings (Indiana), Glory Johnson (Tulsa) and Candace Parker (Los Angeles) as well as Vicki Baugh (Tulsa), Kara Lawson (Washington Mystics) and Shekinna Stricklen (Seattle).
Additionally, Kelley Cain (Connecticut) and Meighan Simmons (New York) spent time in the league in 2014. Simmons was taken in the third round of last year's draft with the 26th pick overall pick by the Liberty.
