Tiffany Mitchell picked ninth overall in WNBA Draft

Tiffany Mitchell is headed to Indianapolis after all.

The Indiana Fever selected South Carolina’s three-time All-American with the ninth pick in Thursday’s WNBA Draft, providing the trip that Mitchell always thought she’d take in 2016. The site of the women’s Final Four, Mitchell and her teammates were denied the journey after a stunning upset in the Sweet 16, but at least one of the Gamecocks will be going – and staying for a while.

“I’m just really happy, excited … I don’t think it’s completely hit me,” Mitchell said. “I’m just enjoying it right now.”

The Fever play in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where Connecticut clinched its fourth straight national championship over Syracuse a week after the Orange beat the Gamecocks. The national finalists were the only two teams to beat USC last year – something that’s still on Mitchell’s mind.

“I couldn’t even watch it myself. Just knowing that your season kind of ended that way leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” she said. “I went back to the drawing board and re-set myself on everything. It pushed me to work even harder to get to this point.”

She’ll have a chance to make another big shot – such as the ones that helped propel USC to its first NCAA Final Four – and for a team that needed just a few more big shots in 2015. The Fever pulled off a miraculous run to the WNBA Finals last year, surviving five playoff elimination games, but fell in the last game to Minnesota.

“I think she’ll fit in perfect,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “In the fourth quarter, the pressure-filled moments, she won’t crack. And she’s a player who values all the details of the game, not just when the bright lights are shining.”

Mitchell became the sixth Gamecock to be drafted by the WNBA, and the third to go at No. 9 (Shaunzinski Gortman by Charlotte in 2002, Jocelyn Penn by Charlotte in 2003). USC coach Dawn Staley was also drafted ninth by the Sting.

The two-time SEC Player of the Year finished her college career with a school record for starts (139) and was part of a group of seniors who won a record 121 games in four years.

Mitchell scored 1,885 points, fifth on the career chart, and was second in 3-point and free-throw percentage.

She’ll get to play one season alongside legend Tamika Catchings, who has announced her retirement after 2016. It’s a fitting way for Mitchell to start her professional career after being tutored by another WNBA legend for the past four seasons.

“She has an opportunity to learn from Tamika after she learned from one of the greatest in Dawn,” White said. “I think we’re getting a player who’s already ready on the defensive end of the floor, who has extreme toughness, a strong mentality and was challenged and coached on a day-to-day basis.”

“She’s going to be the women’s Kobe this year,” Mitchell said. “Not a lot of people get to say they played alongside Tamika, but I’m one of them.”

Heading away from home is a little apprehensive, but Mitchell will have a familiar feeling. As one of the players who saw fans at Colonial Life Arena rise from barely filling five sections to nearly selling it out, Mitchell knows how much playing in a full arena can benefit.

“I’ve been telling people, it kind of reminds me of Columbia, how much Fever fans embrace basketball and going to the games,” Mitchell said. “It resembles how South Carolina fans embraced us.”

The Fever begin their season on May 1 at home against Dallas. Mitchell will be back close to home on May 29 when Indiana visits Atlanta.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 7:52 PM with the headline "Tiffany Mitchell picked ninth overall in WNBA Draft."