Turner Opens WNBA Season in Seattle

Former Nebraska women’s basketball star Yvonne Turner will open her fifth WNBA season in 2023, when her Seattle Storm take on the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday, May 20, at 2 p.m. (CT) on ABC.

Turner, a four-year letter winner for the Huskers from 2007 to 2010, recently completed her 12th professional season overseas. In 2022-23 playing for Sopron in the Hungary-A Division, Turner averaged 8.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists over 19 games. She also spent seven games with Polkowice in Poland.

A first-team All-Big 12 guard for Nebraska’s 2010 team that won the conference championship with a perfect regular season and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Turner has played professionally in Australia, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain and Turkey. She was named the EuroLeague’s top point guard with Sopron in 2017-18.

The three-time Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection as a Husker and the Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, Turner closed the 2022 WNBA season with the Phoenix Mercury. She opened 2022 as a starter with the Minnesota Lynx and also played for the Atlanta Dream last season.

The 2006 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year at Bellevue East High School spent the 2017, 2018 and 2019 seasons as a key member of the Phoenix Mercury. In 2019, she averaged 6.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists while appearing in 29 games with 14 starts. In 2018, she was a playoff starter for the Mercury for the second straight year, after averaging 9.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 steal in the 2017 WNBA playoffs. Turner missed the 2020 and 2021 WNBA seasons after suffering a knee injury in February of 2020.

Turner scored 1,101 points in her 126 career games as a Husker, helping Nebraska to three NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2010 NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Her talents, love for basketball and relentless determination have driven her professional success. Turner was undrafted in 2010 and came up short in earning WNBA roster spots through multiple WNBA camps before finally earning her spot in Phoenix in 2017.

Turner, 35, is the oldest player on the Seattle Storm roster and the sixth oldest player among the 12 WNBA opening day rosters in 2023, behind only Diana Taurasi (Phoenix/UConn), Candice Parker (Las Vegas/Tennessee), Kristi Tolliver (Washington/Maryland), Alysha Clark (Las Vegas/Middle Tennessee) and DeWanna Bonner (Connecticut/Auburn).