This post was updated July 20 at 9:56 p.m.<\/p>\n
Michaela Onyenwere dreamed of becoming a dentist when she committed to UCLA in 2016.<\/p>\n
Almost a decade later, Onyenwere isn\u2019t pulling teeth or filling cavities \u2013 she\u2019s sinking 3-pointers on women\u2019s basketball\u2019s biggest stage as a forward for the Chicago Sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichaela is an incredible athlete, but the reality is that Michaela never had her eyes on becoming a pro,\u201d said coach Cori Close. \u201cShe didn\u2019t even really believe it was possible. She was going to be a dentist and it was really just all about education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Onyenwere averages 4.5 points and 1.9 rebounds per game with the Chicago Sky. The Bruin was originally drafted by the New York Liberty, but she was traded to the Phoenix Mercury in 2023 and then to the Sky in 2024.<\/p>\n
Close said when Onyenwere\u2019s senior year came around, entering the draft was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n
During her collegiate career, Onyenwere reached one Sweet 16 round and one Elite Eight. She led the Bruins in baskets for three consecutive seasons and remains fourth on UCLA\u2019s all-time scoring list with 1,888 career points.<\/p>\n
Her sophomore season marked a shift in her basketball career and placed her on a path to the WNBA \u2014 she started and played in all 35 games and became the fourth player in program history to score at least 600 points in a single season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first became a rookie here (the WNBA), I felt so prepared,\u201d Onyenwere said. \u201cI\u2019ve done this \u2013 UCLA has prepared me through and through, both on and off the court, to be able to excel at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Onyenwere said the wins, the tournament runs and the basketball achievements are not what she carried to the professional level. Rather, it was the memories, the coaches and the life skills that she developed.<\/p>\n
Close often teaches her players lessons through the repeated phrases that she uses, like \u201cyou have to be willing to embrace adversity\u201d and \u201cwe\u2019ll find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Onyenwere said Close\u2019s messages about impacting people beyond basketball stood out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impact that you have and the legacy that you leave is way more important than the milestones that you have,\u201d Onyenwere said. \u201cWe won a lot of games, \u2026 but now five years later, I remember the people and the memories and experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a player, Onyenwere left her mark on the program as one of two Bruin top-10 draft picks since 2008, joining now-Atlanta Dream guard Jordin Canada. But as a person, Onyenwere built an attitude and commitment that has lasted long after her collegiate retirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the coaches ever wanted her to get into foul trouble because she has this screechy, screaming voice. \u2026 She just would be screaming at this high-pitched voice for her teammates the entire time she\u2019s on the bench, because that\u2019s who she is,\u201d Close said. \u201cThere\u2019s nobody in our program that doesn\u2019t start to talk about Michaela who doesn\u2019t just smile from ear to ear.\u201d<\/p>\n
While no one on the current Bruin roster played alongside Onyenwere, many of them played alongside guard Charisma Osborne, who graduated in 2024 after signing with the Phoenix Mercury. Osborne carried on Onyenwere\u2019s legacy as a vocal leader during her upperclassmen years after her teammate had been drafted.<\/p>\n
The Bruins played in their first Final Four during the NCAA tournament era one year after Osborne\u2019s departure. Players like center Lauren Betts and forward Kiki Rice are expected to declare for the draft following their senior campaigns next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always want your best players to be your hardest workers and your best teammates. That\u2019s when teams thrive the most, and when you can have a history of your best players being that, that\u2019s something to speak to,\u201d Close said. \u201cFor us now, that\u2019s Lauren Betts, and Lauren Betts grew up watching Michaela.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Betts and incoming freshman forward Sienna Betts, Onyenwere\u2019s basketball journey started at Grandview High School in Aurora, Colorado. While the trio played under the same head coach, the Betts sisters never competed alongside the 2021 UCLA graduate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI root for them. I root for every Colorado athlete, especially them,\u201d Onyenwere said. \u201cI know Sienna will go and kill it. Lauren\u2019s already killing it. I was able to go to the Final Four as well to see them because I was so supportive of UCLA. I love that we kind of kept that in the family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This post was updated July 20 at 9:56 p.m. Michaela Onyenwere dreamed of becoming a dentist when she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-294547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}