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UConn’s Aubrey Griffin, Caroline Ducharme make an impact in WNBA preseason debuts
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- UConn’s Aubrey Griffin, Caroline Ducharme make an impact in WNBA preseason debuts
Before the Minnesota Lynx took the court on Saturday for their first 2026 preseason game, former UConn women's basketball forward Aubrey Griffin hadn't played a competitive basketball game in more than a year.
But when Griffin checked in off the bench during the matchup against the Washington Mystics, there was no sign of rust. In 15 minutes, Griffin logged six points shooting 2-for-4 from the field, and she was a defensive standout with a block, a steal and two defensive rebounds. Minnesota went on to beat the Mystics 77-66.
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"This is what she's been doing in camp, and I'm really happy for her, because it was a long year, a long road for her to get back to her health," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said Saturday. "She did some really nice things for us to get us going in that second half."
Griffin's journey to the WNBA has been anything but linear. The 6-foot-2 forward signed with the Huskies as a top-25 recruit in the Class of 2019 but spent six years in college due to a pair of major injuries. She redshirted the 2021-22 season after undergoing surgery to repair a disc injury in her back, then tore her left ACL midway through 2023-24.
The ACL tear sidelined Griffin until Jan. 2025, and she was never fully healthy during her final college season averaging just 11.3 minutes on the court in 16 game appearances. The Lynx took a chance on Griffin in the 2025 WNBA Draft , selecting the 6-foot-2 forward with the final pick in the third round, but she didn't report to training camp because of lingering issues with her left knee. She had arthroscopic knee surgery last April and spent most of the past year rehabbing.
Despite the setbacks she's faced, Griffin looks ready to compete on the professional stage. Her performance in Minnesota's second preseason game against the Nigerian national team didn't show up in the stat sheet the way her strong debut did, but her effort and impact were apparent especially on the defensive end. Without attempting a single field goal, she had the second-highest plus/minus on the team at plus-10.
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Caroline Ducharme makes first bucket as a pro
Former UConn guard Caroline Ducharme only played seven minutes in the Golden State Valkyries ' 78-76 preseason win over the Seattle Storm on Saturday, but that was all she needed to score the first points of her WNBA career.
Early in the fourth quarter, Ducharme drained a 3-pointer from the right wing over the outstretched hand of 6-foot-6 Seattle center Dominique Malonga. The shot felt especially poetic because it came off an assist from former UConn teammate Kaitlyn Chen . Chen, a 2025 third-round draft pick who appeared in 24 games for the Valkyries last season, dished three assists and scored 11 points in Golden State's win.
Ducharme added a rebound and an assist to her final stat line, and the Valkyries were plus-5 while she was on the court.
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Ducharme wasn't selected in the 2026 WNBA Draft, but she got an opportunity to sign with Golden State on a training camp contract. While it's rare for undrafted players to make the final 12-player roster, even participating in training camp is a huge accomplishment for Ducharme. Two years ago, she wasn't sure she would ever play professional basketball again, much less on the professional stage.
After signing with the Huskies as the No. 5 recruit in the 2021 class, Ducharme's college career was derailed by a series of head and neck injuries. She suffered her first head injury at UConn in February 2022, then missed 13 games with a concussion in 2022-23. Neck spasms kept her out for all but the first four games of 2023-24, and she wasn't cleared to return to the court until late February 2025. She averaged 7.4 minutes over 25 game appearances as a redshirt senior in 2025-26.
'This isn't the end of my story': How UConn's Caroline Ducharme made it back on the court
