Former Miami High and Miami Hurricanes star ready for her closeup in Friday’s WNBA Draft

When Beatrice Mompremier left for Baylor University in the summer of 2016, it was her coach at Miami High, Sam Baumgarten, and his fiancée, Corin Sands, who helped her fill up a U-Haul to make the 26-hour drive to Waco, Texas.

Two years later, when Mompremier decided to transfer from Baylor to the University of Miami, Baumgarten hopped on a plane and helped her make the car trip back down.

“Bea is like my first daughter,” Baumgarten said. “I tend to get that first phone call when things don’t go right.”

Baumgarten was also there last year, comforting Mompremier when her father died, and this past season, when she missed 13 games because of a foot injury.

On Friday night, Baumgarten is expecting a much happier call.

Mompremier, a 6-4 center, is a likely first-round pick as the WNBA holds its annual draft (7 p.m., ESPN). She averaged 16.8 points and 9.8 rebounds in 17 games.

Mompremier said she will watch the draft show with her mom, four brothers and a couple of friends. ESPN is sending over a camera kit to capture her reaction when her name is called.

“I’m excited but also kind of nervous,” Mompremier told the Miami Herald. “It’s a big moment in my life, and I’m anxious to find out where I’m going to go.”

Mompremier said she has been dreaming of this moment since her senior at Miami High. She has watched the past three WNBA drafts because her friends were selected.

Had it not been for social distancing in the era of coronavirus, she would’ve been in New York for the ceremony. Mompremier said she will still get dressed up for the camera on Friday but not as much as had she gone to New York.

“Friday should’ve been a great celebratory day for Beatrice,” Hurricanes coach Katie Meier said during a conference call on Monday. “It still will be but much differently than when she closed her eyes and dream about [the draft].

“It does matter to lose that moment and that memory. I feel regret for her. With the loss of her father, being injured her senior year and everything she’s been through, I’m just hopeful that Friday is everything she deserves.”

As for Friday’s draft, here’s what we know:

There are 12 teams in the WNBA, and the first pick is considered a lock to be Oregon point guard Sabrina Ionescu, who is headed to the New York Liberty. Ionescu finished her career with 26 triple-doubles, the NCAA record for women or men.

The rest of the draft is far less certain. But if mock drafts are to be trusted, it looks like Mompremier will be headed to the Chicago Sky with the eighth pick or to the Phoenix Mercury at No. 10.

Of the eight mock drafts surveyed, four of them have Mompremier packing for Chicago. Three mock drafts have her headed to Phoenix. And only one mock draft has her outside the first round with pick No. 13 to the Liberty.

In Chicago, Mompremier would play with star guard Diamond DeShields. Phoenix is loaded with superstars such as Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith.

It would be fitting, however, if Mompremier ends up with the Minnesota Lynx, who have the sixth pick and also have on their roster veteran 6-6 center Sylvia Fowles, another Miami native.

Fowles, 34, the second pick in the 2008 draft after having played at Miami Edison and Gulliver Prep, is a six-time All-Star, the WNBA’s three-time Defensive Player of the Year, a two-time league champ, a two-time Finals MVP and the league MVP in 2017.

“Bea and Sylvia already know each other,” Baumgarten said. “It would be amazing if Bea could learn from Sylvia, someone from her same city. She could teach Bea how to be a pro on and off the court.”

Mompremier is set to be the first WNBA draft pick from Miami High and just the sixth for UM.

The list of previous Hurricanes draftees includes Octavia Blue (1998, No. 15); Tamara James (2008, No. 8); Shenise Johnson (2012, No. 5); Riquna Williams (2012, No. 17) and Adrienne Motley (2017, No. 32).

Baumgarten first met Mompremier when she was about to enter the eighth grade. Her brother, Wadly, played basketball for Miami High at the time.

“Beatrice was about 6-foot tall, extremely skinny and hardly said a word,” Baumgarten said. “She didn’t have a grasp of footwork, and her shot was not proper. But you could see she was going to be athletic.”

The next summer, Baumgarten saw her again. She wasn’t a dominant scorer yet, but she was a rebounder and a shot-blocker, and she didn’t mind diving for loose balls.

Eventually, Mompremier grew into Florida’s Gatorade Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American, winning state titles in her final two years at Miami High.

She was a starter at Baylor before coming home to play for Miami, leading the Hurricanes to a 25-8 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance as a junior.

Her senior season wasn’t everything she had hoped for — her rebound average went down from 12.2 to 9.8 and Miami finished with 10 fewer wins at 15-15 — but she was able to return from her foot injury, which could be an important note for WNBA scouts.

“We all have her as a first-rounder,” Meier said. “She’s an incredible wild card in this draft.”

▪ South Carolina Gamecocks star Mikiah “Kiki” Herbert Harrigan, a 6-2 senior forward who competed in high school at Flanagan, is another local player who is expected to be drafted by the WNBA, perhaps in the second round.