Welch poised to hear her name called in WNBA Draft

Nothing will erase the sting of falling short of an NCAA championship.

Perhaps winning a title at the next level will help close the wound.

South Carolina senior Aleighsa Welch, who was named to a second straight All-SEC first team, SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, SEC tournament MVP and set the Gamecocks’ career offensive rebounds record, is ready for the next step in her basketball career.

Welch has been invited to the WNBA Draft on Thursday, one of 12 players to receive the honor.

Welch is listed as 13^th (first pick, second round) on draftsite.com and eighth on Bleacher Report’s mock WNBA Draft. She seems guaranteed to hear her name called, a luxury that many women’s players don’t get.

The 12-team league has sparse roster spots from year to year, and the great majority of players head overseas.

Welch should be the first USC player drafted since Petra Ujhelyi, the team’s current manager, went 16^th in 2003. She would be the fifth former Gamecock to play in the WNBA, after Shannon Johnson, Ujhelyi, Jocelyn Penn and Shaunzinski Gortman. Coach Dawn Staley and assistant coach Nikki McCray-Penson also played in the WNBA.

“I’m a big fan of Aleighsa Welch,” ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck said. “And first and foremost, it’s because of her motor. The energy that she plays with, she is high-energy, extremely competitive. She’s an undersized post player but can rebound with the biggest of players.”

Peck said that Welch needs to work on her free-throw and outside shooting, but has the other game to succeed. Her leadership and maturity were raved over.

“You don’t have to worry about who is going to pick someone up, you know she’s going to follow whatever directions the coaches have,” analyst LaChina Robinson said. “I think any coach at any level will tell you that some of their time is spent trying to coach players into just playing, into being present, into bringing the type of energy that Aleighsa brings. I think it’s something very special about a player that motivates themselves and the people around them and you don’t have to do that for them.”

Welch left Monday for Connecticut, where the draft is being held, and has participated in three days of the rookie seminar. She was hoping to get a chance to play at the next level, and while she didn’t concentrate on it during the season, she was pleased to get the invitation after it was over.

“I knew you had to be invited, and I’ve never been somebody who paid a lot of attention to my personal stats,” Welch said. “I just knew we had a really successful season and one thing that really helped my case was how far we went into the season. I’m very thankful that they thought to invite me.”

USC senior center Elem Ibiam is also on draftsite.com as the projected 35^th pick.

Clemson’s Nikki Dixon, the Tigers’ leading scorer, could also be selected.

This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Welch poised to hear her name called in WNBA Draft."