NEW YORK – Paige Bueckers was chosen by the Dallas Wings with the No. 1 pick in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) draft on April 14, crowning a successful season that saw her lead the University of Connecticut to the United States college championship earlier in April.

The 23-year-old point guard had been the overwhelming favourite to be selected first by the Wings, and will enter a league that has surged in popularity in the past year.

“Just an overwhelming sense of gratitude, it’s super-surreal just being here. All their hard work helped me get to this stage. I didn’t do it alone – it took a village,” Bueckers said moments after her selection at a ceremony in New York, before paying tribute to her coaches and teammates at Connecticut.

Speaking before the draft, Bueckers told ESPN reaching the WNBA marked the realization of a near-lifelong dream.

“Ever since I was five, it’s the reason I played the game. Ever since I picked up the ball, I had big dreams,” she told the network.

Bueckers enjoyed a fairy-tale final season in collegiate basketball, leading the Huskies to a blowout 82-59 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks on April 6 after missing most of the previous two seasons with injury.

A year after Caitlin Clark’s rise took college basketball and the WNBA by storm, Bueckers has enjoyed a similarly meteoric journey to the world’s top women’s basketball league.

US sports equipment giant Nike made her the first college athlete to have a sneaker named after them, and she has also signed a multi-year endorsement deal with Gatorade.

Speaking after leading UConn to the college title earlier in April, Bueckers said her success had been shaped by her determination to fight through a litany of injuries which included a torn meniscus in 2021 and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in 2022.

“It’s been a story of resilience, of gratitude, of adversity, of overcoming adversity, just responding to life’s challenges,” Bueckers said of her career trajectory.

In other early draft selections, French teenager Dominique Malonga was chosen with the second pick by the Seattle Storm.

“It’s amazing to me,” the 6ft 6in (1.98m) 19-year-old Olympic silver medalist said. “I’m so happy to represent France, but not only France, Cameroon and Congo. I’m a multicultural person. I will work very hard to fit in this league, because I know it’s gon...