Another Mississippi State Bulldog is off to the WNBA. Monday night, Mississippi State women's basketball star center Jessika Carter was taken in the second round of the 2024 WNBA Draft by the New York Liberty with the 23rd overall pick.
Big 4 to the Big Apple 🍎
— Mississippi State Women's Basketball (@HailStateWBK) April 16, 2024
Jessika Carter is headed to the @nyliberty!#HailState🐶 x @WNBA pic.twitter.com/ZAPsv2LirM
Jessika Carter wrapped-up a decorated Mississippi State career this season by averaging 14.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. The 6'5" center was a four-year starter for the Bulldogs, earning 2nd Team All-SEC honors on three separate occasions.
Carter owns the career record for games played at Mississippi State. She ranks in the top-5 in career points, rebounds, blocks, and made field goals. In 2024, she was awarded the Gillom Trophy, granted to the best women's basketball player in the state of Mississippi.
Carter became the fourth Mississippi State women's basketball player to be drafted since 2018. In 2018, Victoria Vivians went eighth overall to the Indiana Fever after an all-time great career in Starkville. In 2019, Vivians was reunited with her former teammate Teaira McCowan, who was taken third overall by the Fever. Anriel Howard also went in the 2019 draft, being taken at the end of the second round, 24th overall by the Seattle Storm.
Since that time, State has seen a lull in players being drafted into the WNBA. But now Jessika Carter has put an end to that. She'll join a New York Liberty squad that is one of the very best in the league.
The Liberty, led by superstars Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, have reached the WNBA playoffs each of the last three seasons. Last year, they posted a franchise-best 32-8 record and went all the way to the WNBA Finals before falling to the Las Vegas Aces.
Carter was one of four players drafted by the Liberty this year. New York took a familiar name with their first round pick, drafting former Ole Miss Rebel Marquesha Davis 11th overall. With the 17th overall pick in the second round, they took Esmery Martinez from Arizona, and in the third round, they selected USC's Kaitlyn Davis 35th overall.
New York is a fantastic landing spot for Jessika Carter, and hopefully, her entrance into the league starts a new wave of Bulldogs to the WNBA.