Daughter of Duke basketball legend gets selected in Top-5 of WNBA Draft

Bella Alarie, daughter of Duke basketball great Mark Alarie (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Bella Alarie, daughter of Duke basketball great Mark Alarie (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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The daughter of Duke basketball legend Mark Alarie, Bella Alarie, was selected in the Top-5 of the 2020 WNBA Draft on Friday night.

There was a celebration in the Alarie household in New Jersey on Friday night as Mark Alarie‘s daughter, Bella, was selected in the Top-5 of the WNBA Draft.

Mark Alarie, the former Duke basketball legend, made his own name in college and in the professional ranks, and now his daughter is about to do the same.

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Bella Alarie, the Princeton star, is a three-time Ivy League Player of the Year and is now headed to Dallas as the Wings selected her with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft.

Alarie was also the first-ever Ivy League women’s basketball player to be named as an Associated Press All-American twice in her college career after averaging 17.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game in her senior campaign.

The 6-foot-4 wing also shot 47.4 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from 3-point range at Princeton.

Her father, Mark, was a two-time First Team All-ACC selection at Duke and was an All-American in his senior season. Alarie was in Durham from 1982 to 1986.

Alarie averaged over 13.0 points per game in each of his four seasons as a Blue Devil, with his best season coming as a sophomore in 1983-84 with 17.5 points per game.

ALSO READ: Leaonna Odom selected by New York Liberty in draft

Mark Alarie was the No. 18 overall selection in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets and spent five seasons in The Association, amassing over 2,400 points and 1,100 rebounds.

Bella Alarie’s godfather is also Blue Devil legend and current ESPN college basketball analyst, Jay Bilas.

ALSO READ: Haley Gorecki gets drafted by Seattle Storm

Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie never recruited Bella Alarie to the Blue Devils, and in hindsight that looks like a major mistake.

However, the Duke program did have two selections later in Friday night’s WNBA Draft with Leaonna Odom going in the second round to the New York Liberty and Haley Gorecki being drafted in the third round by the Seattle Storm.