Mikayla Pivec, a 2016 graduate of Lynnwood High School and four-year starter for the Oregon State Beavers, will get the chance to play professional basketball as the 5-10 guard was drafted by the WNBA Atlanta Dream on Friday.

Pivec was the first pick in the third round of the WNBA’s 2020 draft and the 25th selection overall of the 36 players selected in this year’s draft.

“I’m super excited for the opportunity,” Pivec told ESPN just minutes after she got word that she had been chosen in the pro league’s draft. “I grew up watching these amazing players and to be able to hopefully play on that stage would be a huge accomplishment.”

After a stellar high school career for the Royals — including a state basketball championship in 2015 and an individual state championship in the javelin in 2016 — Pivec left a big mark on Oregon State women’s basketball. Pivec played in all 136 Beaver games over the past four years — starting in 127 of them — and helped the program to a 106-30 record since the 2016-2017 season.

Pivec also helped the Beavers earn three NCAA Women’s National Championship Tournament berths, going 7-3 in tourney games. This year Pivec would have played in her fourth national championship tournament with the Beavers, but the NCAA cancelled the tourney due to concerns with the coronavirus outbreak.

Perhaps most notably, Pivec is the all-time leading rebounder in OSU women’s basketball history with 1,030 boards over her four-year career.

In addition to her accomplishments at the collegiate level, Pivec also earned a Silver Medal in the 2019 Pan American Games as a member of the USA Women’s Basketball team.

Pivec will now head to Atlanta to battle for a roster spot on a Dream team that finished the 2019 season last in the WNBA Eastern Division with a record of 8-26. When Pivec will make the trip to Georgia is unknown as WNBA training camps — and the start of the 2020 WNBA season — have been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our goal is to have a season when it is medically advisable and feasible,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told media outlets on Friday. “Other than deferring training camp and the beginning of the season, we haven’t taken anything in our scenario plan off the table.”

— By Doug Petrowski