Catching up with Ohio State women’s basketball in the pros

An update on Buckeyes at home and abroad

Everywhere you look there’s a new women’s professional basketball league, which is fantastic considering the difficulty of getting drafted in the WNBA and making it onto a team. From leagues in the United States to teams from every corner of the globe, Buckeyes leave Columbus and continue their craft in the professional leagues.

Here are updates and news from those professional alums, including some players thriving overseas, short stints, trophies, and trades.

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Celeste Taylor

The one-year Buckeye transfer guard went into the WNBA and collected her fair share of team gear. After going to the Indiana Fever early in the second round, Taylor made the team but after getting released spent time with the Connecticut Sun, and twice with the Phoenix Mercury before earning substantial minutes with the Mercury.

After the playoffs, where Taylor made two appearances, the New Yorker took the 20-hour flight to Sydney to join the Sydney Flames of the WNBL.

In Australia, Taylor is thriving, starting 18 of 19 games for the Flames, averaging 10.5 points, 3 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. It’s no surprise that Taylor’s steals per game puts her 10th in the league.

Taylor’s performance in the Flames’ last game qualified Sydney for the four-team playoffs, similar to the Final Four but with a three-game series. Sydney has a tough battle ahead of them when the playoffs tip off Sunday, Feb. 23 at 12:30 a.m. EST (played at 3:30 p.m. in Eastern Australian Standard Time) against the Bendigo Spirit, a side that beat Sydney three times in the regular season.

All WNBL games stream live on the FIBA YouTube page, for all insomniacs who can watch the games that air in the twilight hours of the morning. Sydney has two remaining regular season games before the playoffs tip-off in 12 days. The first is Wednesday morning at 3:00 a.m. EST.

For those wanting to watch games during normal waking hours, the Mercury signed Taylor to a training camp contract for the 2025 season. While it doesn’t guarantee a roster spot, Taylor’s already shown at home and abroad that her defense and improving offense make her a strong addition.

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Taylor Mikesell

The 2024 WNBA season saw the former Ohio State sharpshooter watch from the outside looking in. Taylor Mikesell signed a training camp contract with the Los Angeles Sparks but didn’t make the final roster.

Following the season, Mikesell took her game to Spain, playing with Gernika KSB in Spain’s La Liga Feminina. Mikesell made five appearances in October and November of last season, averaging 9.6 points per game, going 8-of-26 from beyond the arc before departing the team.

This season, Mikesell signed with Athletes Unlimited, the unique, player-led, league where each week the teams are different and players earn individual points per game for positive stats, and lose points for turnovers.

Mary Kate Ridgway – Athletes Unlimited LLC

Last week was the first week of games, which air on ESPN+ or the WNBA app, Mikesell appeared in all three games for her side, starting off cold with 4.3 points per game on 23.8 percent shooting in 17 average minutes per appearance.

Fans of Ohio State know that it won’t stop the guard from shooting, and Mikesell landed on Team Harris for week two, with games on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night. The overall leaderboard determines the team captains for the week, and who wins the entire regular season. Currently, Mikesell sits in 25th place.

Wednesday and Saturday, Mikesell plays at 6 p.m. ET, with Friday’s game coming at 8 p.m. ET.

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Kelsey Mitchell

Following an All-Star season playing alongside rookie Caitlin Clark on the Indiana Fever, Mitchell headed to China and suited up for Shanxi and played Mitchell-esque basketball. In 26 games, Mitchell scored 23.1 points per game, including a single game-high 37 points on Nov. 23.

Mitchell shot 55.8 percent from the floor in her stint with Shanxi, joining 32 other American basketball players like Chennedy Carter and Odyssey Sims of the WNBA.

Mitchell returned to the United States at the end of January to re-sign with the Indiana Fever, continuing her now eight-year WNBA career, all with the Fever.

Last season, Indiana made it to the playoffs but got swept in the first round. That motivated Indiana to finally build around Mitchell and Clark, bringing in Connecticut Sun staple Dewanna Bonner, big Natasha Howard, and two-time WNBA champion Sydney Colson.

With Clark selling out arenas, the Fever want to make it further than a first-round exit and the team’s additions plus a backcourt pairing including Mitchell will get Indiana there.

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Rebeka Mikulášiková

For all the globe-hopping, it made the most sense for former Ohio State forward Rebeka Mikulášiková. The Slovakia native returned to Europe to represent her home country’s senior team and play professionally in Poland.

Signing with Gorzów WLKP, Mikulášiková played 14 games in the Polish Basket Liga Kobiet, averaging 10.6 points and 4 rebounds in 21.2 minutes per game. On Dec. 29, Mikulášiková led Gorzów to a narrow three-point win with a team-leading 26 points and nine rebounds, the forward’s best game of the season.

Mikulášiková, and fellow Big Ten alum Diamond Miller from the Maryland Terrapins, helped lead Gorzów to a Polish Cup title, adding to Mikulášiková’s two Big Ten regular season titles with Ohio State.

In the Polish Cup, Mikulášiková had eight points and three rebounds in 15:11 off the bench, with Miller leading the way, scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds. Mikulášiková also represented her home nation on Feb. 9, against Iceland. The former Buckeye big scored 16 points with 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Gorzów returns to league play on Feb. 15. The best bet to see Mikulášiková play is in the Eurocup, which streams on FloSports.

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Jacy Sheldon

For anyone just joining the Buckeyes season, Jacy Sheldon isn’t playing overseas. Sheldon is on the bench at Ohio State women’s basketball games. Originally slated to join the Townsville Fire of the WNBL, the same league as Celeste Taylor, an injury kept Sheldon from traveling, which is when head coach Kevin McGuff called.

Sheldon is the Head of Player Development for the Buckeyes, working with athletes to help them grow and thrive in college basketball. That doesn’t mean there is a lack of updates to her professional career.

The WNBA offseason is a time when nearly nobody is safe, and with Sheldon entering her sophomore season, she was moved fairly quickly once the offseason officially opened for business.

Dallas dealt the former Buckeye to the Connecticut Sun for Dijonai Carrington, with both sides swapping draft picks as well. The Wings went through something of an upheaval in the offseason, with Latricia Trammell relieved of her duties as head coach, with former Sun and Sparks head coach Curt Miller joining the organization as General Manager.

Connecticut adds Sheldon after losing Bonner and All-Stars Alyssa Thomas and Brionna Jones. Plus head coach Stephanie White took the same position with Mitchell in Indiana.

While the Sun were perennial powers in the WNBA for the past eight seasons, making it to the playoffs each year and falling twice in the finals, Sheldon is part of a new-look team. WNBA legend Tina Charles and Natasha Cloud each joined the Sun via free agency and trade, plus former champion Diamond Deshields.

Will Sheldon end her sophomore season on the outside of the playoffs looking in for the second straight year? Will Sheldon make the team coming out of training camp?

Those questions and a bunch more will be answered when the WNBA starts training and preparing for the 2025 campaign in the coming months.

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Other Buckeyes

• Ameryst Alyston: The Canton, Ohio native is playing in France currently with Angers. In 15 games, Alyston averages 16.8 points and 3.1 assists in 33.5 minutes per game. After playing part of two seasons with the New York Liberty in 2016 and 2017, Alyston has played in Spain, Finland, Iceland, Israel, Switzerland, and Turkey.
• Taiyier Parks: The former Michigan State and Ohio State forward Taiyier Parks had a brief stint in Mexico following her eligibility ending after the 23-24 season. Parks averaged 4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in three games in September.
• Karla Vreš: The American University transfer headed back to Europe, playing for Alvik Basket in Sweden. Vreš averages 2.6 points in 9.5 minutes this season, appearing in 11 games.