Monika Czinano selected by the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA Draft

Just a week ago, Monika Czinano finished up her fifth year senior season with the Iowa Hawkeyes. She finished her career playing the Final Four and making an appearance in the national title game against LSU. Tonight, the Los Angeles Sparks selected her with the 26th pick in the Third Round of the WNBA Draft. The Sparks went 13-23 last season and finished in 6th place in the Western Division.

Monika becomes the 16th Hawkeye player to be drafted or signed to a WNBA team. Kathleen Doyle (2020 Second Round) and Megan Gustafson (2019 Second Round) are the two most recent selections out of Iowa.

High School and Freshman Year

Out of Watertown, Minnesota, Monika Czinano was a three-time all-conference selection and a First Team All-State selection as a senior in 2018. She finished her high school career with 1,643 points and 1,035 rebounds.

Czinano played in 34 games during her freshman season, but averaged just 5.3 minutes per game. Her season-high was 15 points in an early season contest against against NC Central. Her season-high in Big Ten play was just six points against Ohio State. Monika got in the gym between her freshman and sophomore season and came back a different player.

“Monika was not highly recruited out of high school at all, and we saw something in her. We saw somebody that would embrace the contact and got down there and sealed and worked really hard on that,” said head coach Lisa Bluder at the Final Four. “Her freshman year, her shot was really messed up, and she’ll tell you this. Honestly, it was all of her hard work. Between her freshman and sophomore year, she was in the gym doing soft touch over and over and over again, back to the fundamentals.”

Sophomore and Junior Season

Czinano came back for her second season and started 28 games for the Hawkeyes. She averaged 16.0 points per game and shot 67.9% from the floor. That ranked 2nd in the country. Monika scored in double figures ten times, including a season-high 24 points against Clemson and Minnesota. She was a First Team All-Big Ten selection. As a junior, Monika took another step forward. She started all 30 games for the Hawkeyes and was, again, a First Team All-Big Ten selection. She averaged 19.3 points and 5,8 rebounds per game, while her 66.8% shooting percentage led the entire country. Czinano set a career-high total with 38 points against Purdue.

Senior and Fifth Year Senior Seasons

As a fourth year senior in 2021-22, Monika averaged 21.2 points and shot 67.9% from the floor. For the second straight season she led the country in shooting. She was named an AP and WBCA honorable mention All-American, as well as a First Team All-Big Ten for the third straight season. She was also a semifinalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award. Monika scored a season-high 31 points against Nebraska and Indiana. Czinano decided to use her covid year and return to Iowa for a fifth year senior season.

In her final season in Iowa City, Monika helped Iowa to a 31-7 record, as well as the program’s first Final Four appearance since 1993. She started all 38 games, averaging 17.1 points, as well as a career-high 6.5 rebounds per game. She shot 67.4% from the floor, which was good for third in the country. After having what Lisa Bluder described as a “messed up shot”, Monika was in the top three in the country in shooting percentage for her last four seasons at Iowa. She was a First Team All-Big Ten selection for the fourth straight season and was named to the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20, as well as the Naismith Women’s Player of the Year Midseason Team.

She finished her Iowa career with 2,413 points, 1,031 field goal makes and 787 rebounds. Monika and Caitlin Clark became the first pair of teammates in Big Ten Women’s Basketball history to reach 2,000 points for their career in the same season.

The WNBA preseason gets underway on May 5th. The Sparks will take on Phoenix Mercury in their lone preseason game on May 12th. They will take on the Mercury in their season opener at Crypto.com Arena on May 19th at 10:00pm CT on ESPN.