Flanagan grad Mikiah Herbert Harrigan heads to Lynx in first round of WNBA draft
Mikiah Herbert Harrigan has held many monikers throughout her basketball career. The former Flanagan star has always gone by the nickname “Kiki” and it evolved into “Mad Kiki” while she played for the South Carolina Gamecocks, and earned a reputation for her fiery persona and ability to harness her anger when her temper flared up.
Now she also holds the moniker of first-round draft pick. The Minnesota Lynx selected the 6-foot-2 forward from with the No. 6 overall pick in the first round of the 2020 WNBA draft Friday after she punctuated her college career by winning MVP honors at the Southeastern Conference tournament in March.
Before went to play for No. 1 South Carolina, Herbert Harrigan was a star for the Falcons in Pembroke Pines. She grew up considering Lynx center Sylvia Fowles, a Miami native and Gulliver Prep alumna, a mentor and turned into a two-way terror by her senior season. She was the No. 72 overall prospect in the ESPN rankings for the Class of 2016 and headed to Columbia to join a perennial powerhouse. Now she’ll be teammates with her idol.
As a freshman, she won a national championship, playing 19.3 minutes per game in the 2017 postseason, including 11 in the title game against the No. 2-seed Mississippi State Bulldogs. As a sophomore, she seized a starting job at the end of the season and helped South Carolina get back to the elite eight. In her junior season, she became a centerpiece for the Gamecocks, particularly on the defensive end, where she blocked 2.2 shots per game.
Herbert Harrigan, however, told South Carolina coach Dawn Staley she wasn’t happy. She put her name in the transfer portal, but she eventually met with Staley and the two worked out their differences. Herbert Harrigan decided to return for her senior year.
Although Herbert Harrigan’s final season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gamecocks finished the year as the No. 1 team in the country and Herbert Harrigan was their leading scorer at 13.1 points per game. She transformed from a role player into one of the best players in the country and a top-10 pick.
Her personality made her a fan favorite in South Carolina, too. Gamecocks fans sported “Mad Kiki” shirts at the SEC tournament in Greenville, South Carolina, last month as Herbert Harrigan propelled the Gamecocks to another trophy. Staley and Herbert Harrigan read a book on leadership together last year as the coach implored her star player to become a better later. The temper which had often been a hindrance early in Herbert Harrigan’s career became a strength for the senior.
“Me being able to channel that into my play has helped me a lot this season,” Herbert Harrigan told Columbia’s The State at the SEC tournament. “I’m just really happy that coach — I might have been mad at her sometimes, but she really helped me learn the importance of that.”
She was a star in South Florida, then a star in South Carolina. Now the Lynx hope she’ll be a star in the WNBA, too.
