Indiana Fever Waive Former Ohio State G Taylor Mikesell

Former Ohio State Buckeyes guard Taylor Mikesell will have to take her basketball talents and sharpshooting abilities elsewhere.

The Indiana Fever waived former Ohio State Buckeyes guard Taylor Mikesell, the team announced Wednesday.

Mikesell was the Fever's third selection and the first of the second round at No. 13 overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft in April. She played in Indiana's first preseason game against the Chicago Sky May 7, scoring five points on 2-for-4 from the field and 1-of-2 from deep and pulling down an offensive rebound in just under 14 minutes.

Mikesell did not play in the Fever's second preseason game against the Dallas Wings Saturday.

We have waived guard Taylor Mikesell.

🔗 https://t.co/qqW8KTbxd5 pic.twitter.com/wYZ5wgLkM3

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 17, 2023

The Fever roster was getting backlogged as they have veterans like Ohio State all-time leading scorer Kelsey Mitchell, seven-year veteran Erica Wheeler and budding star NaLyssa Smith. Indiana also drafted two of the top-seven picks in No. 1 overall selection Aliyah Boston and No. 7 Grace Berger so, with a minimum of 11 and a maximum of 12 players on a WNBA roster, a spot for Mikesell on the final roster was unlikely. 

The Massillon, OH. native began her collegiate career at Maryland in 2018-19, playing two seasons and averaging 12.3 points and putting the world on notice of her sharpshooting abilities from deep.

She knocked down 41.8 percent of her 3-point attempts with the Terrapins, but that number dipped to a career-low 33 percent in her lone season with Oregon in 2020-21.

Mikesell then returned home to the state of Ohio, joining the Buckeyes for the 2021-22 season where she became an instant star and contributor for each of their last two NCAA Tournament runs.

She regained that 3-point-shooting touch in Columbus, converting at a 47.5 percent clip from downtown, which was second in the country. Last season, she hit a career-high 116 3s.

In 68 games with the Buckeyes, Mikesell scored 1,215 points, including four 30-point games, and recorded 80 steals in Ohio State's hounding full-court press. In her three seasons prior to transferring to Ohio State, she had 85 steals.

In addition to being a back-to-back First Team All-Big Ten selection, Mikesell owns the program's free-throw percentage record at 87.8 percent and her 44.2 3-point percentage ranks second all time.

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