SECACUS, N.J. – After four successful seasons at LSU, Allison Hightower opens a new chapter in her basketball career with the start of the 2010 WNBA Draft at 2 p.m. CST Thursday from the NBA Entertainment Studios just outside New York City.
ESPN2 and www.ESPN3.com will provide live coverage and analysis of the first round of the draft. ESPNU and NBA TV will broadcast the second and third rounds.
Hightower arrived in New York for the draft on Wednesday and she is one of 14 players invited to attend the live event. Hightower is projected to be a top 10 pick in the draft that features an elite senior college class, including Stanford’s Jayne Appel, Connecticut’s Tina Charles and Nebraska’s Kelsey Griffin.
“I am excited to be here,” she said. “The draft is very guard heavy. I am just looking forward to having the opportunity. It’s going to be a great draft. There are a lot of great players. I am just looking forward to seeing what is going to happen.”
After completing a trade with the Minnesota Lynx earlier this year, the Connecticut Sun hold the top pick in the draft for the first time in franchise history. The Lynx now have the second and third picks in the 2010 WNBA Draft followed by the Chicago Sky and the San Antonio Silver Stars to round out the top five selections.
Hightower seeks to be the seventh first round selection in LSU history and the first since Sylvia Fowles was taken as the second overall pick by the Chicago Sky in 2008. LSU has produced four first round draft choices dating back to 2005. Hightower would be the 15th LSU player selected all-time in the WNBA Draft dating back to the league’s inception in 1997.
The Arlington, Texas, native is a two-time State Farm Coaches Honorable Mention All-America selection and she was twice chosen unanimously to the All-Southeastern Conference first team. As a senior, Hightower was a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
Hightower goes down as the 13th all-time leading scorer at LSU, despite coming off the bench for two seasons. The 22-year-old finished with 1,509 points, ranked sixth in blocked shots with 89 and seventh in career 3-point field goals with 108. Hightower concluded her brilliant career with 136 games played, which ranks fourth in school history behind only Sylvia Fowles, Quianna Chaney and Seimone Augustus.
This season, Hightower ranked second in the SEC with 18.2 points per game and second in 3-point field goal percentage (39.8). Her scoring average was the highest by an LSU player since Seimone Augustus in 2006 (22.7). Hightower was the only player in the SEC to rank in the top seven of the following three categories: points, 3-point field goal percentage and steals.
Hightower says the transition from the college to the professional ranks is one she is well prepared for after playing at a school like LSU and under former WNBA champion coach Van Chancellor.
“I think it’s all about being tough, Hightower said. “If you want to play you just have to go ahead and play. It’s going to be a very physical league, it’s going to be long, but that’s what you prepare for. You prepare for these types of thing. He (Chancellor) gave me great advice on what I need to learn and work on and he’s just been a really big help for me.”
The WNBA will tip off its 14th season on Saturday, May 15 as the defending champion Phoenix Mercury host the Los Angeles Sparks at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
2010 WNBA DRAFT
ROUND 1
Lottery Teams
1 Connecticut Sun (from New York, via Minnesota)
2 Minnesota Lynx (from Connecticut)
3 Minnesota Lynx
4 Chicago Sky
Non-Lottery Teams
5 San Antonio Silver Stars
6 Washington Mystics
7 Tulsa Shock
8 Los Angeles Sparks
9 Atlanta Dream
10 Seattle Storm
11 Indiana Fever
12 Los Angeles Sparks (from Phoenix)
ROUND 2
13 New York Liberty
14 Washington Mystics (from Minnesota)
15 Connecticut Sun
16 Chicago Sky
17 San Antonio Silver Stars
18 Washington Mystics
19 Tulsa Shock
20 Los Angeles Sparks
21 Atlanta Dream
22 Seattle Storm
23 Indiana Fever
24 Phoenix Mercury
ROUND 3
25 New York Liberty
26 Minnesota Lynx
27 Connecticut Sun
28 Chicago Sky
29 San Antonio Silver Stars
30 Washington Mystics
31 Tulsa Shock
32 Los Angeles Sparks
33 Atlanta Dream
34 Seattle Storm
35 Indiana Fever
36 Phoenix Mercury