Three Selected in 2019 WNBA Draft

ATLANTA (April 10, 2019) – The Atlanta Dream picked up Phoenix Mercury center Marie Gülich after an orchestrated trade of First Round pick Brianna Turner in the 2019 WNBA Draft.

The Dream entered the Draft with three selections, the No. 11 pick in each round. In addition to Gülich, the team selected Oregon guard Maite Cazorla and Chinese center Li Yueru.

Head coach Nicki Collen had planned a trade ahead of the team’s First Round selection, and drafted Turner for Phoenix for the rights to Marie Gülich.

Marie Gülich

A 6’5” center from Oregon State, Gülich was selected 12^th overall last season by the Phoenix Mercury. In Arizona, she played 23 games, recording her first WNBA points from the free throw line in the Mercury’s season opener on May 18against Dallas. She ended her rookie season with averages of 1.5 points and 1.0 rebounds in 5.0 minutes of play.

“We’re excited because last year, Gulich was a player that we really targeted. But because we didn’t have a 1st round pick, we didn’t have an opportunity to get her. After losing Dantas, we really needed to get offense from the post position. Gulich is someone who can really stretch the floor and run in transition.”

Maite Cazorla

A two-time All-Pac-12 selection out of Oregon, Cazorla has both collegiate and international experience. With Spain’s national team, she helped her team to a third place finish at the U19 FIBA World Championships in the summer of 2015, compete for a championship in the summer of 2014 and win a European title with the U16 squad in Bulgaria. With the Ducks, Cazorla helped her team to their first Final Four in 2019, and led the team to a program-best 33 wins in 2018. She left Oregon as a part of the winningest class in program history and set UO records for most games played and games started (146).

“We really targeted Cazorla for our second-round pick. She’s really a pro already with Spain and had a great run in the Oregon backcourt with Ionescu where she just made a final four run. We’re really excited by her pro prototype in terms of her ability to run screen-and-roll offense and make some threes so we’re excited so far.”

Li Yueru

One of two Chinese national players in the 2019 WNBA Draft, 6’7” Yueru played for Guangdong of the WCBA last winter, where she was a teammate of WNBA players Nneka Ogwumike and Aerial Powers. She helped China’s Women’s National Team to a sixth place finish in the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Tenerife, Spain, playing along fellow 2019 draftee Han Xu. Yueru will be eligible to play in the 2020 WNBA season.