Central Michigan women's basketball forward Crystal Bradford was selected seventh overall by the Los Angeles Sparks in Thursday night's WNBA draft.
She is the first CMU women's basketball player to be drafted in program history, according to Mlive.com.
Bradford joins a Sparks team that went 16-18 last season and finished fourth in the western conference before being defeated 2-0 in the conference semi-finals by the Phoenix Mercury.
The Detroit native averaged 17.3 points per game, 8.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game for her career with the Chippewas. She also helped lead the USA team to a gold medal in the World University Games, which were hosted in Russia.
Bradford is arguably the Chippewas' most decorated women's basketball player — holding program-highs in career points (2,006), rebounds (1,140) and blocks (177).
Ohio held Bradford to just eight points in a 71-51 win on Jan. 17, as she finished two for 16 from the field and just five rebounds. In Bradford's second contest against the Bobcats, she fared far better, shooting 11 of 30 for 29 points in addition to 14 rebounds.
“She’s really good,” Ohio coach Bob Boldon said in a prior Post report after the Bobcats second win over the Chippewas on Jan. 31. “You’ve got to force her to take tough shots…I think that’s what our frustration is because we didn’t do a very good job forcing her to take those tough shots.”
Bradford battled numerous knee injuries in her final season with the Chippewas, as she missed eight games and only started 19 of CMU's 30 contests.
@Lukeoroark
Lr514812@ohio.edu
