STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford guard Karlie Samuelson has signed a training camp contract with the Los Angeles Sparks and will be with the team when its preseason preparations begin in earnest on Sunday.
Samuelson averaged career highs in points (12.4), rebounds (3.4) and assists (2.7) and personal bests in field goal percentage (.482) and 3-point field goal percentage (.485) as a senior. She finished second in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage, a mark good for second in school single-season history and fourth in Pac-12 history.
Her 96 made 3-pointers tied Jeanette Pohlen for first in Stanford history and fifth in Pac-12 history and her 249 career 3-pointers are third in the school record books. A career 44.3 percent 3-point shooter, Samuelson is second at Stanford to Jennifer Azzi, tied for fourth in Pac-12 annals and 19th in NCAA history. She ended with the best career 3-point percentage for any Pac-12 player since 1990.
Samuelson ('17) joins a franchise loaded with Stanford connections. The Sparks are led by 2016 WNBA MVP and Finals hero Nneka Ogwumike ('12), whose game winner with 3.1 seconds in Game 5 lifted Los Angeles to its first championship since 2002. In October she was also voted president of the WNBA players' union executive council, a post she will hold for three years.
Mikaela Ruef ('14) has been playing professionally in Australia since graduation and signed a training camp contract with the franchise in mid-March. She averaged 12.4 points and 11.0 rebounds for the Canberra Capitals this past season, one of two players in the WNBL to average a double-double.
In early April, Bobbie Kelsey ('96) was added to head coach Brian Agler's staff as an assistant. She helped the Cardinal to three Final Four appearances in five years and was a member of Stanford's 1992 national championship team.
Samuelson, who has finished all requirements for her degree in human biology, leaves for Los Angeles on Wednesday.
