Seattle grabs Loyd with No. 1 pick

Uncasville, CT (SportsNetwork.com) - Jewell Loyd, who left Notre Dame with a year of eligibility remaining, became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 WNBA Draft on Thursday.

The Seattle Storm selected Loyd with their first No. 1 overall selection since picking Sue Bird in 2002. Loyd was a unanimous AP All-American after averaging 19.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists last season for the national runner- ups.

One of Loyd's opponents in the national title game, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, will be her teammate this season. Seattle and Connecticut previously agreed on a trade that sent the No. 3 overall pick to the Storm, and they grabbed the UConn star with their second pick of the night. Mosqueda-Lewis is the all-time NCAA leader in 3-pointers made and helped the Huskies win the last three national titles.

Amanda Zahui B., who also left school early, was taken with the No. 2 overall pick by Tulsa. The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 18.8 points, 12.9 rebounds and 4.1 blocks in her sophomore season at Minnesota.

The rest of the top five saw the Sun take Duke's Elizabeth Williams and the Sky add Middle Tennessee State's Cheyenne Parker.

Wake Forest's Dearica Hamby went to the Stars, Central Michigan's Crystal Bradford landed in Los Angeles, Dayton's Ally Mallot will play for the Mystics, Cal's Brittany Boyd was selected by New York, and the Dream grabbed Iowa's Samantha Logic to round out the top-10.

UConn was the only school that had two players plucked in the first round, with the Liberty acquiring the 11th overall pick from Minnesota and selecting center Kiah Stokes.

The defending WNBA champion Phoenix Mercury concluded Round 1 by taking Tennessee's Isabelle Harrison.