Prep Charter's Kahleah Copper drafted 7th in WNBA by Washington

IT'S JUST a Philadelphia thing.

Whenever a local player is drafted in a professional sport, the question of how playing in the City of Brotherly Love helped prepare them seems to always come up.

It happened to former Prep Charter and Rutgers guard/forward Kahleah Copper after she was selected seventh overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2016 WNBA draft.

ESPN, which televised the draft, wanted to know how playing on the playgrounds with boys help toughen her mentally.

Copper gave the perfect Philly response.

"I think they did push me to another level," Copper said. "In Philly, they don't care (whether you are a boy or girl). They just want you to get better, so you can go somewhere on TV and brag about them. So, here's their shout-out. I just want to thank them. We had a lot of fun on 32nd and Burton. We got it done."

Copper, a 6-1 swing player, ranks third on Rutgers' all-time scoring list behind WNBA alumni Cappie Pondexter and Sue Wicks, with 1,872 points.

A McDonald's All-America, Copper is the first player from the Public League to be selected in the first round of the WNBA draft since Dobbins Tech graduate and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Dawn Staley was selected ninth overall by the old Charlotte Sting in 1999.

Copper is the first Philadelphia-area prep player to get drafted in the WNBA's first round since Cheltenham star Laura Harper was picked 10th overall by the old Sacramento Monarchs in 2008.

Former Temple stars Candice Dupree (sixth to the Chicago Sky in 2006) and Kamesha Hairston (12th to Connecticut Sun in 2007) are the only players from the Big 5 to be first-round picks in the WNBA.

On the Mystics, Copper will team up with former Cardinal O'Hara and Saint Joseph's star Natasha Cloud, who was a second-round pick by Washington in 2015.

As expected, Connecticut consensus National Player of the Year Breanna Stewart was selected first overall by the Seattle Storm.

When UConn's Moriah Jefferson went second to the San Antonio Stars and Morgan Tuck third to the Sun, it marked the first time in WNBA history that players from the same school were the first three picks in a draft.