Jewish Basketball Player Selected by Dallas Wings in First Round of WNBA Draft
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Abby Meyers (center) playing for the Maryland Terrapins women’s basketball team in March 2023. Photo: Maryland GovPics via Wikimedia Commons
Jewish basketball player Abby Meyers, a former Princeton guard who played this past season for the University of Maryland, was selected 11th overall by the Dallas Wings on Monday night in the first round of the 2023 WNBA Draft.
Also a Maccabiah Games gold medalist, Meyers played for the Princeton Tigers for three years, during which she was selected as the 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year and AP Honorable Mention All-American.
The Maryland native returned to her home state for her senior season and played in 35 games for the University of Maryland, scoring in double figures in 28 of 35 games. She helped the Terrapins win 28 games — nine over ranked teams and five over top 10 teams, according to the university’s athletics department. She also assisted the Terps in winning their first Elite Eight of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament since 2015. There are currently six Maryland alums in the WNBA.
“There are so many amazing teams [in the WNBA], and I just looked up to all of them when I was growing up,” Meyers told The Daily Princetonian when she chosen for the draft in March. “This whole experience is surreal, [it’s] like a full circle moment.”
In July 2022, Meyers helped lead Team USA win a gold medal in women’s basketball at the Maccabiah Games in Israel.
“I see myself as a female Jewish athlete, and I think it really came to fruition this past summer when I went to the Maccabiah Games in Israel and was able to play alongside so many amazing, talented Jewish athletes from all over the world,” Meyers previously told JTA. “That was different for me, because I’ve never been around so many Jewish athletes before.”
The athlete had never been to Israel before the Maccabiah Games and said the experience was “by far the most fun I’ve ever had.”
“It’s way more than just basketball. It’s really learning about your history, your ancestry and just appreciating all things Jewish,” Meyers added.
