DALLAS _ Lauren Cox just missed making a bit of history Friday night.
Cox, the first-team All-American forward from Flower Mound and Baylor, was one spot away from matching the highest that a Dallas-area player has ever been selected in the WNBA draft.
The 6-4 Cox was drafted No. 3 overall by the Indiana Fever on Friday night after her hometown team, the Dallas Wings, passed on her and picked Oregon forward Satou Sabally at No. 2. Oregon point guard Sabrina Ionescu, the consensus national player of the year, was taken by the New York Liberty at No. 1.
The draft was conducted virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced the draft picks live on ESPN, and the top prospects took part remotely.
Cox matched where Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings from Duncanville was selected in the 2001 WNBA draft. The only Dallas-Fort Worth players to go higher were Odyssey Sims from Irving MacArthur and Baylor in 2014 and home-schooled Moriah Jefferson from Glenn Heights and UConn in 2016, both of whom were picked at No. 2.
There was a lot to overcome to get to this point.
Cox has Type 1 diabetes, meaning that she has to manage her diet and insulin intake. Cox suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury in last season's 82-81 win over Notre Dame in the national championship game, and while she escaped with torn meniscus and a bone bruise in her knee, she still had to take two months off from basketball to recover.
Cox came back strong and averaged 12.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and ranked fourth in the Big 12 in blocks (2.7 per game) as a senior. Baylor didn't get a chance to win a second straight national championship, as the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments were canceled because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Two Dallas-area players were chosen in the first round, with All-American guard Chennedy Carter from Mansfield Timberview and Texas A&M picked by the Atlanta Dream at No. 4. Carter, who chose to forgo her senior year to enter the draft, was the first A&M player to earn All-American honors her first three years of college, and she leaves as the second leading scorer in A&M history with 1,983 points.
Carter is a high-volume scorer, and she ranked sixth in the nation in scoring as a junior, averaging 21.3 points. She averaged 22.5 points for her career, with a career-high 23.3 points per game as a sophomore, and she ranked sixth in the SEC in steals (1.7 per game) this season.
Carter becomes a teammate of former Irving MacArthur and Baylor star Alexis Jones on the Dream. Jones, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2017 draft, was claimed off waivers by the Dream in February after the 5-9 guard averaged 4.0 points and 1.8 assists in 12.2 minutes per game for the Los Angeles Sparks last season.
The last D-FW player drafted in the first round was Ariel Atkins from Duncanville and Texas. She was picked at No. 7 in 2018 by the Washington Mystics and helped the team win the WNBA championship last season.
