JEFF REINHART | Sports WriterKiki Jefferson’s dream has always been to play basketball at the professional level.
“I’m going to get there,” she vowed to LNP last summer.
Jefferson took her first big step toward fulfilling that dream this week.
The former Lancaster Catholic standout and the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s second all-time leading scorer heard her name called by the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA draft on Monday night.
“OMG, I just got drafted,” Jefferson posted on her social media account when she got the news. “Thank you Minnesota Lynx. Super excited.”
Minnesota is excited to have her.
“Kiki is an all-around good basketball player who impacts the game in a variety of ways,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve told the team’s website. “She scores, rebounds and can pass. We’re excited to welcome her to Minnesota.”
Jefferson was selected in the third round, with the 31st overall pick in the draft. She was projected to go anywhere between No. 20 and No. 33 in a handful of mock drafts.
“I’m so thrilled for her,” said Lancaster Catholic coach Charlie Detz, who skippered Jefferson for her four unforgettable seasons with the Crusaders. “She’s a special person and she’s a once-in-a-generational player. She did all the things the right way for us. This didn’t happen overnight. She put so much hard work into this to make her dreams come true.
“What a day and what a moment for her when her name was announced.”
Jefferson’s drive is well-documented. She’s driven to represent Lancaster County, and she’s always been motivated by her family, especially her mom, who has been battling an illness the last several years.
“My reason and my motivation have always been my family,” Jefferson said in a social media post last week, when she announced that she was declaring for the WNBA draft.
“Through it all,” she said, “they’ve always had my back.”
“All of her accolades for her on-court performances are well deserved, and they have to be mentioned and written about,” Detz said. “But what I’ll always remember to this day is her leadership and her humility.”
Minnesota has 17 players, including Jefferson and first-round draft pick Alissa Pili, on its preseason roster. That includes seven players listed as a guard, which is Jefferson’s position.
So she’ll have to earn her spot with the Lynx. Playing professionally overseas might also be an option for Jefferson moving forward.
But first things first. She wants to earn a spot on Minnesota’s roster.
“When Kiki gets a goal or a dream, and she gets something in her head, she’s not going to stop until she achieves it,” Detz said. “That’s what makes her the special person that she is. She has the drive and she has the ability to go with it.”
Minnesota’s staff recognized Jefferson’s on-court ability, which is much more than scoring. She’s a tenacious defender. A deft passer. And she can crash the boards with authority.
She’ll be a multi-purpose pro.
“Everybody who knows us knows that being a productive player is something that we really value,” Reeve told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. “(Kiki) is a player who understands how to impact multiple columns in a box score.”
Jefferson definitely checks all the boxes in the scoring department. She finished her career at Lancaster Catholic with a staggering 2,510 points, plus a state championship and a Pennsylvania Player of the Year nod before heading to James Madison.
In four seasons with the Dukes, Jefferson poured in 1,838 points while earning Sun Belt Conference Rookie of the Year honors and putting her name on any number of marks in James Madison’s record book.
Jefferson, a 6-foot-1 slasher, transferred to Louisville for her fifth and final year of eligibility, and she averaged a team-best 12.3 points a game and helped the Cardinals win 24 games and go back to the NCAA tournament this past season.
Minnesota went 19-21 last year, playing in the Western Conference. The Lynx qualified for the WNBA playoffs, but were upended by the Connecticut Sun. The Las Vegas Aces won the league title, topping the New York Liberty in the championship series.
Speaking of New York, the Liberty play their home games in Brooklyn, and if you want to see Jefferson play live and in person in her first pro season if she indeed makes Minnesota’s roster, that will be one of the closest venues from Lancaster.
Minnesota plays at New York on July 2 and Sept. 15.
The next closest spot is Washington, D.C., home of the Mystics. Minnesota is set to play there Aug. 17 and Sept. 8.
If Jefferson makes the cut, she’ll have to put pen to paper and sign her first professional contract before the Lynx open their season May 14 at home against the Seattle Storm.
Lea Veloso from StyleCaster.com made salary predictions for all 36 WNBA draft selections, and she projects Jefferson making $276,830 over four years in her first contract per the WNBA rookie wage scale.
Veloso predicted the first 12 picks in the draft will make $300,000-plus over four years, with the top four picks — Iowa’s Caitlyn Clark to Indiana, Stanford’s Cameron Brink to Los Angeles, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso to Chicago and Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson to Los Angeles — all signing for four years and $338,056 per the league’s rookie wage scale.
“For Kiki, it’s always about her teammates,” Detz said. “It’s about us. What can we accomplish together. She’s a breath of fresh air to be around. She’s a leader, and it was humbling to sit back and watch how she affected other players around her. They all played for each other and for the greater good. That’s Kiki.”
TWITTER-X: @JeffReinhart77
