In the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, Hunter Cruse, Emily Adler and Lincoln Shafer discuss what Notre Dame senior Sonia Citron and South Carolina senior Te-Hina Paopao bring as WNBA prospects. Both players could be selected in the top 10 of the 2025 WNBA Draft, Cruse says, but Citron is likely to be picked higher.
As a 6’1 guard, Citron is averaging 14.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.9 steals in 33.9 minutes per game. She is also shooting 49.5% from the field and 37.7% from 3-point range. The hosts project her as becoming an average or better starter in the WNBA. Shafer breaks down what he thinks Citron can be as a pro:
“I really enjoy Sonia Citron as a basketball player and as a prospect. She has shown this year that the scalability is very real with her. She can be your second option on a good team. She can be your third option. She can lock in defensively. She can play on the ball and off the ball. She just does a whole lot of things that good basketball teams need. She kind of just plugs in as a fourth starter on a good team for any style of team, because everybody needs a wing defender that can shoot and playmake a little bit.”
As a junior, Paopao led Division I by shooting 46.8% from 3-point range on 5.0 attempts per game. This season, the 5’9 guard is shooting 38.5% and averaging 10.1 points, 3.1 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 25.3 minutes per game. The hosts project her as becoming an average or better rotation player in the WNBA. Adler makes her pitch for the value Paopao will bring:
“The pitch is, among very clear W-level prospects, she is one of the best shooters in draft history, while also being an excellent pick-and-roll lead guard, having a very good in-between game and being, thanks to [South Carolina head coach] Dawn Staley, a highly competent defender. … And she’s also insanely consistent.”
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