University of North Carolina Athletics
Teasley Headed To Portland With Fifth Pick Of WNBA Draft
April 19, 2002 | Women's Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--Two University of North Carolina players were selected in the 2002 WNBA Draft on Friday, Nikki Teasley with the fifth pick by the Portland Fire and Jackie Higgins with the 32nd pick by the Los Angeles Sparks.
Teasley, UNC's all-time leader in assists and three-pointers, will join Tar Heels Sylvia Crawley (UNC from 1991-94, now a Carolina assistant coach) and LaQuanda Barksdale (UNC from 1998-2001) on the Fire roster. "The first thing I thought about when Portland picked me is a Carolina reunion," Teasley said. "I'm happy to know where I'm going and it's even better to be going out there with a coach and a teammate."
Barksdale and Teasley played together for three years at Carolina and Crawley coached Teasley during the 2001-02 season. "With her passing, I know she can get the ball to me and anyone on the team who's open," said Crawley, Portland's starting center in her third year with the team. "I have my family out in Portland now. With "Q" and Nikki and Rasheed Wallace (who plays for the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers), this is the second Tar Heel town."
Along with family members and UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell, Teasley was among the crowd of top prospects watching the proceedings from WNBA Draft headquarters at NBA Entertainment studios in Secaucus, N.J. She said waiting through the first four picks was the hardest part of the day. "I was just happy to hear my name called," she said. "It's really nerve-wracking to sit there. Hearing my name was a relief."
Teasley's selection at No. 5 is the highest ever by a UNC player. The previous high was Tracy Reid, who went seventh in 1998.
"I think Portland is a great fit for Nikki," Hatchell said. "I'm really proud of her and excited both for her and for Jackie."
Higgins, who watched the draft from Chapel Hill, was surprised and pleased to be picked by Los Angeles, the defending WNBA champion. "They're a really aggressive team, which is the kind of game I like," she said. "I'm so excited, if for no other reason because they're the champions."
Higgins, a 6-1 forward/center from Durham, N.C., played for the Tar Heels in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 before leaving school to play professional basketball. She thinks her performance at the WNBA predraft camp last weekend was the key to her selection. "I got to play against players who are just getting out of college and see where I was against them," she said. "I felt like I could compete with them." She played for a professional team in Switzerland last fall and winter until the season ended in January.
UNC players in the WNBA draft
1998: Tracy Reid, seventh (Charlotte)
1999: Charlotte Smith, 33rd (Charlotte)
2000: LaQuanda Barksdale, 12th (Portland)
2000: Juana Brown, 49th (Seattle)
2002: Nikki Teasley, fifth (Portland)
2002: Jackie Higgins, 32nd (Los Angeles)
Sylvia Crawley joined the Portland Fire as a free agent in 2000.
