Grace Berger Selected by Indiana Fever in First Round of WNBA Draft

Former Indiana Hoosier guard Grace Berger gets selected by the Indiana Fever in the first round of the 2023 WNBA draft as the highest pick in Hoosier program history.

NEW YORK — Former Indiana women's basketball guard Grace Berger was selected in the first round of the 2023 WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever as the Hoosiers' highest draft pick in program history at No. 7 overall.

"I love the game so much that I'm giving it my all every time I'm out there," Berger said moments after being drafted. "I'm just really passionate and it also helps that I play for such a great, gritty, competitive coach like Coach Moren."

First look at @grace_berger34's new threads. 👀#ProIU ❌ @IndianaFever pic.twitter.com/p7q1Vz8tFz

— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) April 11, 2023

Hoosier head coach Teri Moren was in the crowd celebrating at New York City's Spring Studios when she heard Berger's name called. Throughout the last season, Moren described Berger as the heart of the Hoosiers' team and said the program wouldn't be what it is now without her.

Indiana women's basketball associate head coach Glenn Box, head coach Teri Moren and associate head coach Rhet Wierzba attend the 2023 WNBA draft to support former Hoosier guard Grace Berger / IU Athletics

Berger was projected to get drafted around pick No. 9 by ESPN but instead will stay close to her collegiate home Bloomington and her actual home of Louisville, Ky. when the regular season starts on May 19.

The Hoosiers have now had two consecutive seasons of one player being drafted as former Hoosier guard Ali Patberg was picked as the 33rd overall selection to the Indiana Fever last season. 

Other past Hoosiers selected in the draft include Jori Davis as the 33rd pick to the Fever in 2011, Jill Chapman as the 21st pick to the Detroit Shock in 2002 and Quacy Barnes as the 22nd pick to the Sacramento Monarchs in 1998.

In Monday night's draft, the Fever used its first overall pick to get former South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston before drafting Berger at No. 7. The Fever also have two second round picks and one third round selection.

In Berger's five seasons as a Hoosier, she finished with 1,841 points, 573 assists and 752 rebounds. The guard made 118 starts out of 148 games played in the cream and crimson and averaged 12.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field during her career.

She finished her career as a four-time All-Big Ten First Team honoree and USWBA and WBCA All-American honorable mention this past season while helping lead the program to its first Big Ten regular season title in 40 years and the program's first NCAA Tournament one-seed in program history.

"I'm just really excited to hopefully...make my team better in any way I can, learn what the coaches want and just...make the life for my teammates a little bit easier out there," Berger said.

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