With the 33rd pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, the Connecticut Sun selected UConn’s Serah Williams — then traded her to the Portland Fire. She is the 51st player drafted overall and the seventh third-round pick in program history.

Williams initially looked to be staying in Connecticut when the Sun took her with the third pick in the third round but traded her to the Fire soon after for Taylor Bigby, the 37th overall pick out of TCU, and a 2027 third round pick. Now, the Brooklyn, New York native has a chance to be the first Husky to play for the expansion Portland franchise.

While Williams was not among the 15 players invited to the draft by the WNBA, she was still in attendance at The Shed in New York to support Azzi Fudd, who went No. 1 overall to the Dallas Wings, alongside the rest of UConn’s team. When her name was called, she walked up to the stage and posed for a photo with commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

Williams spent the first three seasons of her career at Wisconsin, where she was a two-time All-Big Ten First Team selection and 2024 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. After her head coach resigned, Williams entered the transfer portal and spent her final collegiate season at UConn.

A starter for all 39 games with the Huskies, she averaged 6.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 blocks. Williams also shot a career-best 58.8 percent from the floor.

This is the second straight year that a UConn player has been taken in the third round. In 2025, Kaitlyn Chen went 30th overall to the Golden State Valkyries while Aubrey Griffin came off the board with the final pick of the draft, 37th overall, to the Minnesota Lynx. Prior to that, the Huskies had just two third-round picks over the previous two decades.