Kiki Iriafen, Lauren Betts will put USC-UCLA rivalry aside in D.C.

As we wrote about yesterday, Monday’s WNBA Draft was a quiet one for USC women’s basketball . For crosstown rival UCLA, however, it was a massive day, with the Bruins seeing six players selected in the top 18 picks.

Two of those top picks were Lauren Betts and Angela Dugalic, who were selected by the Washington Mystics at No. 4 and No. 9, respectively. In Washington, they will be teaming up with the No. 4 overall pick from last year’s draft: USC’s Kiki Iriafen .

It is clear that the Mystics have a thing for Southern California players. With three first round draft picks from USC and UCLA in the past two years, they will now be led by a young core of two Bruins and one Trojan. Iriafen, Betts, and Dugelic will be forced to put the USC-UCLA rivalry aside in order to come together and help their new team win.

Iriafen and Betts have not always been rivals, however. Both players actually started their college careers at Stanford, where they were teammates for a season in 2022-2023. After stints on opposite sides of the Crosstown Showdown, they are now on the same team once again in Washington.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC’s Kiki Iriafen, UCLA’s Lauren Betts now WNBA teammates in D.C.