WNBA draft: Jacy Sheldon selected 5th overall, Celeste Taylor 15th from Ohio State
On Monday night, two Ohio State Buckeyes heard their names called during the 2024 WNBA draft.
With the fifth overall pick, the Dallas Wings selected Buckeyes guard Jacy Sheldon. Ten picks later, the Indiana Fever took Celeste Taylor in the second round, 15th overall.
Sheldon is the highest pick from Ohio State since Kelsey Mitchell, the No. 2 overall in 2018. A graduate of Dublin Coffman, Sheldon is also the first player from her high school to be drafted into the WNBA.
During Sheldon's five seasons with the Buckeyes, the 5-foot-10 guard scored 2,024 career points, good enough for sixth on Ohio State's all-time leading scoring list. Sheldon also ranks top-10 in program history for field goals, 3-pointers and steals.
Averaging a team-high 17.8 points and recording 20 points or more in 13 games this season, Sheldon helped lead the Buckeyes to their first outright Big Ten regular-season title in over a decade.
Wings president and CEO Greg Bibb said that the organization has kept a close eye on Sheldon since the first game of the 2023-24 season, originally landing on the team's radar during her senior campaign, though she decided to return to Ohio State for a fifth and final year.
"She gets at it defensively," Bibb said. "Some of the best hands I've seen defensively in terms of being active. Playing at Ohio State, she's great in the full-court press that they utilize there. ... You know, physicality, like most college players it's an adjustment, it's going to be an adjustment for her too."
Taylor, who transferred from Duke to Ohio State during the offseason last year, also played a key role in the program's Big 10 championship-winning season. Leading the Buckeyes in both steals and blocks, Taylor was named co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, making her a two-time conference DPOY winner.
On multiple occasions throughout her one season with Ohio State, Taylor spoke about how it was a difficult decision to forgo the draft and use her final year of eligibility to play with the Buckeyes.
"I would never trade the decision that I made to go to Ohio State," Taylor said. "I think that it has brought me so much peace in who I have become as a player and the impact that I can make in any program that I choose or organization that I have the opportunity to be a part of."
This marks the second straight year that Ohio State has had a player selected in the WNBA draft. Last year, Taylor Mikesell was picked by Indiana Fever in the second round with the No. 13 pick overall.
Celeste Taylor and Caitlin Clark join Kelsey Mitchell in Indiana
Before Indiana took Taylor with its second pick in this year's draft, the Fever had the No. 1 overall selection, and unsurprisingly, they used it on the NCAA's all-time leading scorer, Caitlin Clark.
Clark and Taylor have a history of sharing the court that goes beyond their time as Big Ten rivals who matched up twice in the 2023-24 season. The two were already teammates before, playing for Team USA in the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup.
"Just having the opportunity to play with her again," Taylor said, "it's going to be amazing. And she's done so much for the women's game, and I know she has so much more to give to everyone."
Mitchell, whom Clark bumped to third on the all-time NCAA women's scoring list, has become a main component on Indiana's roster.
Though Taylor only had the chance to meet the former Buckeye on her official visit to Ohio State back in high school, she is looking forward to playing with Mitchell but knows the first step to doing so is making the Fever's roster.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State in WNBA Draft: Dallas Wings select Jacy Sheldon 5th overall
