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Former Texas starter Celeste Taylor gives Longhorns a tie to the 2024 WNBA draft

Danny Davis
Austin American-Statesman
Ohio State guard Celeste Taylor was taken in the second round of Monday night's WNBA draft. The former Texas player was this past season's Big Ten defensive player of the year. She was drafted by the Indiana Fever, who took Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 overall pick.

Former Texas guard Celeste Taylor was selected in the second round of the WNBA draft on Monday night.

One of the players invited to attend Monday's draft, Taylor was the 15th overall pick by the Indiana Fever, who picked Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 pick.

Taylor, a 5-foot-11 guard out of New York, spent the first two years of her collegiate career at Texas. As a sophomore, she averaged 12.3 points and 2.1 steals as Texas reached the Elite Eight round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Following the 2020-21 season, Taylor transferred to Duke. She eventually spent her last year of college at Ohio State. During the past two seasons, Taylor won the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten's defensive player of the year awards.

Taylor ended up being the Longhorns' only tie to Monday's draft. Texas senior Shaylee Gonzales was in the draft pool, but the 5-foot-10 guard wasn't selected in the three-round, 36-pick draft. A sixth-year guard, Gonzales started each of UT's 74 games over the past two seasons and she was the team's top 3-point shooter each year.

Gonzales was looking to become the 14th player drafted straight out of Texas. Here's a list of the 13 Longhorns who have been taken in the WNBA draft:

1999 — Edna Campbell (1st round, 10th overall pick)

2000 — Edwina Brown (1st round, 3rd pick)

2004 — Stacy Stephens (3rd round, 37th pick)

2005 — Jamie Carey (3rd round, 31st); Heather Schreiber (3rd round, 39th)

2007 — Tiffany Jackson (1st round, 5th)

2010 — Brittainey Raven (3rd round, 33rd)

2015 — Nneka Enemkpali (3rd round, 26th)

2016 — Imani McGee-Stafford (1st round, 10th)

2018 — Ariel Atkins (1st round, 7th)

2020 — Joyner Holmes (2nd round, 19th); Sug Sutton (3rd round, 36th)

2021 — Charli Collier (1st round, 1st overall pick)