Since her days at La Jolla Country Day, Te-Hina Paopao has played alongside some of the best in the country.
Now, the Oceanside native will line up with one of women’s basketball’s legends. The Atlanta Dream drafted Paopao in the second round (18th overall) of Monday night’s WNBA Draft. The University of South Carolina grad will a team that recently signed Britney Griner to a one-year, free-agent contract.
Paopao celebrated with roughly 300 friends and family at a watch party in Oceanside. The LJCD grad did a live interview with ESPN while wearing traditional Samoan garb.
Paopao told ESPN she’s “ready to open my next chapter,” and thanked her family for showing up in a big way.
“It’s been really fun to spend this time with my family,” she said. “It’s been nothing but joy and excitement.”
The 5-foot-9 guard averaged 22.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.3 steals per game as a senior at LJCD, leading the Torreys to a No. 1 national ranking and a 32-1 record during the 2019-20 season. Paopao was named a McDonald’s All-American, Gatorade’s California Player of the Year and Cal-Hi Sports’ Ms. Basketball as a senior.
She played three seasons at the University of Oregon, earning first-team All-Pac-12 honors twice, before transferring to South Carolina. During her first season with the Gamecocks, she led the nation by hitting 46.8% of her 3-point attempts. That number dropped to 37% during her final collegiate season.
Paopao, 22, is the latest La Jolla Country Day star to be taken in the WNBA Draft. Candice Wiggins was drafted by Minnesota at No. 3 overall in 2008, and Kelsey Plum went first overall to San Antonio in 2017.
