Aleighsa Welch, the pride and soul of this past season's South Carolina women's basketball team, became the first Gamecock to be drafted since 2003 on Thursday night when she was selected with the 22nd overall pick in the second round of the 2015 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky.
A Goose Creek, SC native, Welch arrived on campus as a freshman back in 2011 before South Carolina had even made its first NCAA tournament appearance under head coach Dawn Staley, but the Gamecocks went 113-26 during her career and reached the Final Four for the first time in program history this past season.
Welch averaged 9.1 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game during her senior season as she earned AP All-America honorable mention honors for the second consecutive year.
Welch finished her career having recorded the most offensive rebounds in program history.
Welch is the first South Carolina player to be drafted since Jocelyn Penn and Petra Ujhelyi were 12 years ago.
#Gamecocks https://t.co/aBCSwj
Gamecock nation let's introduce the @ChicagoSky to the nation's number 1 fans!! When you take one of us you get all of us. #one
— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) April 17, 2015@GamecockWBB is in the house at the @WNBA draft! Look at Muffin!!! pic.twitter.com/QEphUK6lTV
— dawnstaley (@dawnstaley) April 16, 2015Aleighsa Welch taking a selfie with Hall-Of-Famer Dawn Staley at #WNBADraft. pic.twitter.com/roSsGkITxK
— WNBA (@WNBA) April 16, 2015