TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Seminoles.com) – Florida State Women’s Basketball senior center Adut Bulgak has been selected by the New York Liberty with the 12th overall pick in the first round of the 2016 WNBA Draft.
The Edmonton, Canada, resident and Kenya native is the tenth Seminole to earn a selection in the WNBA Draft, including the fifth since 2009. She is FSU’s first draft pick since former player Natasha Howard was chosen with the fifth overall pick in 2014 by the Indiana Fever.
Bulgak’s first-round selection marks the third consecutive FSU draft pick that has been chosen in the first round, with Howard (fifth overall in 2014) and Jacinta Monroe (sixth overall in 2010) being part of the group. It is the first time the New York Liberty has selected a Seminole in the WNBA Draft.
The WNBA preseason begins on May 1 while the first slate of regular-season games takes place on Saturday, May 14, when Bulgak is expected to make her professional debut against the Washington Mystics at 7 p.m.
Bulgak’s selection adds to the growing number of WNBA players that are coming from Canada. In the WNBA Draft’s first 20 seasons, no more than two players from Canada have been selected in the same draft. However, multiple selections from Canada are expected in this year’s draft. The Canadian National Team has already qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, a program that Bulgak looks to join in the future. For the last two summers she has played for the Canadian Development Women’s Team.
In her two seasons at Florida State, Bulgak helped lead the Seminoles to a 57-13 (.814) record that included consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and an Elite Eight appearance in 2015. She earned WBCA All-America honors in each of her two seasons with the Seminoles, making her one of three FSU players to earn All-America status multiple times.
Over the course of her two-year career, Bulgak earned 21 in-season and post-season awards at the conference and national level. She averaged 12.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, shot 48.7 percent (318-653) and went nearly 35 percent (34.4 percent) from beyond the arc as a center. Bulgak was also 72.9 percent from the free-throw line and totaled 88 blocked shots.
Bulgak finishes her FSU career ranked in the Top 10 in career rebounding average (fourth – 8.7), blocked shots (ninth – 88) and 3-point field goal percentage (T-10th, 34.4 percent). She registered 19 double-doubles, 43 double-figure scoring games and eight 20-point performances as a Seminole.
-Seminoles.com-
