LGHL Former Buckeye Taylor Thierry makes Atlanta Dream opening day roster
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Former Buckeye Taylor Thierry makes Atlanta Dream opening day roster
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Joseph Boatman/NBAE via Getty Images
The former Buckeye went from third-round pick to regular-season roster.
The 2025 WNBA season tips off on Friday, May 16. That makes this week one of the more difficult weeks for fans of the United States’ top professional women’s basketball league. Leading up to the opening games, teams have to cut their rosters down to fit the 12-player limit and within salary cap restrictions.
That means that many players drafted out of college do not make a WNBA regular-season roster. Former Ohio State women’s basketball guard/forward Taylor Thierry bucked that trend this offseason, and Thursday, the Atlanta Dream announced the Cleveland, Ohio native as a member of their 2025 opening day roster.
Thierry beat out other players on the Atlanta Dream’s roster, including two-year pro Haley Jones out of Stanford and fellow 2025 WNBA Draft pick Shyanne Sellers, out of the Maryland Terrapins program. That is despite Sellers getting drafted in the second round of the draft, with the Golden State Valkyries, before they cut Sellers, and she landed in Atlanta’s training camp.
When the Dream announced both of those cuts, the public did not respond favorably to first-year head coach Karl Smesko’s decisions, but Thierry has always been a player who has stayed under the radar.
No clearer evidence of that status is where the Dream selected Thierry, with the third-to-last pick of the entire 2025 WNBA Draft.
Under Smesko, the former 22-year head coach of Florida Gulf Coast University, the Dream play a three-point-heavy system, and do not use a lot of the shot clock to do it either. Over the years at Ohio State, Thierry’s three-point shooting increased from averaging less than one attempt per game in her first three seasons to 1.7 per game as a senior, making 46.4% of them.
However, defense is where Thierry shines. A member of the 2025 Big Ten All-Defensive Team, Thierry averaged 2.3 steals per game in the 2024-25 season and led the Big Ten with 77 steals overall. Thierry does it with her ability to read the court and athleticism to jump faster and higher than most to cut off passing lanes.
“With Taylor, she makes a lot of plays,” said Smesko following Atlanta’s first preseason game against the Washington Mystics. “She looks for opportunities to attack, but she gets deflections, she’s in there rebounding, she runs the floor hard.”
Thierry’s Atlanta Dream teammates have also sung the rookie’s praises this offseason.
“I want to shout out Thierry,” said teammate and former Michigan Wolverine Naz Hillmon,” I think she’s had some really great practices. Defensively, she’s a pest, and I know that goes a long way in this league.”
The four-year Buckeye gives the program two straight seasons where a draftee made an opening day roster, joining Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor, who both made their teams last season, although Taylor was cut and moved around the league before finding a landing spot with the Phoenix Mercury.
Thierry joins a team of WNBA All-Stars, including Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, Brionna Jones, and Brittney Griner. Also making the team this season are fellow rookie Te-Hina Paopao, who the Dream drafted in the second round of the 2025 WNBA Draft.
Both Sheldon and Taylor are likely to make their rosters, but the Connecticut Sun and Mercury have not announced their final rosters, as of publication. In the offseason, the Dallas Wings traded Sheldon to the Connecticut Sun following a rookie season where the point guard began starting near the end of the season.
The Dream begins its 2025 season Friday night against the Washington Mystics, at 7:30 p.m. ET in a game set to air on ION.
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here

Photo by Joseph Boatman/NBAE via Getty Images
The former Buckeye went from third-round pick to regular-season roster.
The 2025 WNBA season tips off on Friday, May 16. That makes this week one of the more difficult weeks for fans of the United States’ top professional women’s basketball league. Leading up to the opening games, teams have to cut their rosters down to fit the 12-player limit and within salary cap restrictions.
That means that many players drafted out of college do not make a WNBA regular-season roster. Former Ohio State women’s basketball guard/forward Taylor Thierry bucked that trend this offseason, and Thursday, the Atlanta Dream announced the Cleveland, Ohio native as a member of their 2025 opening day roster.
Thierry beat out other players on the Atlanta Dream’s roster, including two-year pro Haley Jones out of Stanford and fellow 2025 WNBA Draft pick Shyanne Sellers, out of the Maryland Terrapins program. That is despite Sellers getting drafted in the second round of the draft, with the Golden State Valkyries, before they cut Sellers, and she landed in Atlanta’s training camp.
When the Dream announced both of those cuts, the public did not respond favorably to first-year head coach Karl Smesko’s decisions, but Thierry has always been a player who has stayed under the radar.
No clearer evidence of that status is where the Dream selected Thierry, with the third-to-last pick of the entire 2025 WNBA Draft.
Under Smesko, the former 22-year head coach of Florida Gulf Coast University, the Dream play a three-point-heavy system, and do not use a lot of the shot clock to do it either. Over the years at Ohio State, Thierry’s three-point shooting increased from averaging less than one attempt per game in her first three seasons to 1.7 per game as a senior, making 46.4% of them.
However, defense is where Thierry shines. A member of the 2025 Big Ten All-Defensive Team, Thierry averaged 2.3 steals per game in the 2024-25 season and led the Big Ten with 77 steals overall. Thierry does it with her ability to read the court and athleticism to jump faster and higher than most to cut off passing lanes.
“With Taylor, she makes a lot of plays,” said Smesko following Atlanta’s first preseason game against the Washington Mystics. “She looks for opportunities to attack, but she gets deflections, she’s in there rebounding, she runs the floor hard.”
Thierry’s Atlanta Dream teammates have also sung the rookie’s praises this offseason.
“I want to shout out Thierry,” said teammate and former Michigan Wolverine Naz Hillmon,” I think she’s had some really great practices. Defensively, she’s a pest, and I know that goes a long way in this league.”
The four-year Buckeye gives the program two straight seasons where a draftee made an opening day roster, joining Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor, who both made their teams last season, although Taylor was cut and moved around the league before finding a landing spot with the Phoenix Mercury.
Thierry joins a team of WNBA All-Stars, including Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, Brionna Jones, and Brittney Griner. Also making the team this season are fellow rookie Te-Hina Paopao, who the Dream drafted in the second round of the 2025 WNBA Draft.
Both Sheldon and Taylor are likely to make their rosters, but the Connecticut Sun and Mercury have not announced their final rosters, as of publication. In the offseason, the Dallas Wings traded Sheldon to the Connecticut Sun following a rookie season where the point guard began starting near the end of the season.
The Dream begins its 2025 season Friday night against the Washington Mystics, at 7:30 p.m. ET in a game set to air on ION.
Continue reading...