Aleighsa Welch drafted by WNBA’s Chicago Sky

It’s known for deep-dish pizza.

It’s preparing for a Muffin.

“My mindset was, ‘Aleighsa, you’re going to be picked. That’s when you have an opportunity to showcase your talent,’” Aleighsa Welch said on Thursday. “When I did hear my name called, I just thought, ‘Let’s get to work.’”

Welch was selected by Chicago with the 22nd pick (10th, second round) of the WNBA Draft, embarking her on a professional career after completing a magnificent four-year stay at South Carolina. The first instate recruit to pledge to Dawn Staley, the Goose Creek native that her mother tabbed “my chocolate-chip muffin” played in four NCAA tournaments and won 113 games, two SEC regular-season championships and one SEC tournament title.

While it hurt not to finish with a national championship, Welch helped make history as the leader of the school’s first NCAA Final Four team. The Gamecocks will be extremely talented next year, and replacing Welch’s points and rebounds can be done.

Nothing will replace the drive, passion and will to win that Welch is taking to Chicago.

“If it’s just intangibles I need to bring, that’s what I’ll bring,” Welch said. “If that’s diving for a loose ball or getting that offensive rebound – you know I love to get offensive rebounds -- I want to have an impact.”

Welch is the fifth Gamecock drafted by the WNBA, and the first since Petra Ujhelyi, the team’s current manager, went 16th in 2003. USC also had Teresa Geter, Jocelyn Penn and Shaunzinski Gortman drafted, while Shannon Johnson played a lengthy career in the WNBA after the American Basketball League folded. Staley and assistant coach Nikki McCray-Penson had long tenures in the WNBA.

Welch is joining an on-the-rise franchise. The Sky made the playoffs for the first time in 2013 behind WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Sylvia Fowles and Rookie of the Year Elena Delle Donne, and followed in 2014 by advancing to the WNBA Finals, where they fell in three games to Phoenix.

It’s similar to what she joined at USC. The Gamecocks had two losing seasons and an 18-15 WNIT year under Staley before Welch arrived. With her, USC never won fewer than 25 games per season and set a program-high with 34 this year.

“When you’re coming off a team that just went to the Final Four, it’s fabulous coming to a team just off the Finals,” she said. “You want to bring a winning attitude. To bring a winning attitude to a winning team, it goes hand in hand.”

She can get advice about her new home from assistant coach Darius Taylor, a Chicago native. Welch will be in Chicago with former Gamecock Alshon Jeffery, who is beginning his fourth season with the Bears. Jeffery hosted a Final Four party for the Gamecocks during their stay in Tampa, Fla., this year.

“Might have to call him up,” Welch said. “You know, if he’s having a housewarming party or something.”

Welch will return to Columbia on Friday and report to training camp on May 17. The season begins on June 5. With the guidance of Staley and McCray-Penson, she’ll try to curb herself from working out too much.

“I’m going to try to get myself in tip-top shape, but I know I can’t work out 17 times a day, even though I might want to,” Welch said. “I’m in a really good position where coach Staley will make sure I don’t try to do everything at once.”

She’s eager to get to Chicago but will always consider Columbia her home. There’s no doubt she’ll be remembered as one of the biggest bricks of Staley’s foundation.

“That’s what I wanted to do when I came in,” Welch said. “While I wish we could have finished with a national championship, I wouldn’t trade my four years at South Carolina for anything. It’s been a great, great, great ride.”

Note: USC senior Elem Ibiam was not drafted but is discussing options with her agent. She is in the process of deciding on a WNBA camp to attend as a free agent and has already heard from three teams.

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 9:34 PM with the headline "Aleighsa Welch drafted by WNBA’s Chicago Sky."