Former USC Trojans stalwart and now Washington Mystics rookie Kiki Iriafen shared a series of photos to show her rookie year has been so far. On Monday, Aug. 18, Iriafen uploaded a carousel post on Instagram with 10 slides to show how her first campaign in the WNBA in the 2025 season has been going so far with coach Sydney Johnson’s Mystics.
In the post, Iriafen first included a photo of herself shooting around before a game, she added an in-game candid shot in the next slide. The next pictures show Iriafen and her Mystics teammates Sonia Citron and Shakira Austin hyping each other up during a game in a team huddle and as they were entering the arena through the tunnel. The upload concludes with more candid shots of Iriafen both during games and warmup sessions.
Also Read: Mystics Draftee Kiki Iriafen Wins Best Fit at WNBA Draft According to ESPN’s Chiney Ogwumike
“Day by Day😌,” Iriafen captioned.
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This prompted some known figures in women’s basketball to share supportive reactions towards Iriafen. Among those that stood out were former Kentucky Wildcats guard Georgia Amoore, former Iowa Hawkeyes standout Lucy Olsen, and one of Iriafen’s former teammates with coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s Trojans and now UConn Huskies transferee, Kayleigh Heckel.
“Meow,” Amoore commented.
“Glowing,” Olsen wrote.
“My Kiks,” Heckel wrote with a couple of emojis.
With many fans and supporters looking at Iriafen for her successful rookie season, such as Amoore, Heckel and Olsen, Iriafen has since blossomed into one of the top young talents in the WNBA. For this year’s campaign, she has averaged 12.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists in around 26.6 minutes in 34 games played. She has become one of the focal points in the Mystics’ overall record of 16-18 thus far, placing them in the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
In her last season of college basketball in the 2024-25 campaign with Heckel and the rest of the Trojans, they went all the way to the Elite Eight of the 2025 NCAA tournament and ended the year with an overall record of 31-4 (17-1 Big Ten).
Kiki Iriafen, Lucy Olsen and Georgia Amoore are all rookies for the Washington Mystics in the 2025 season
Along with former Notre Dame Fighting Irish guard Sonia Citron, the likes of Kiki Iriafen and Lucy Olsen have led the young surge of the Washington Mystics this year.
Iriafen was taken with the fourth overall pick in the first round of this year’s WNBA Draft, while Olsen was selected in the second round through the 23rd pick. For Georgia Amoore, she has yet to play for the Mystics due to an ACL injury, but was chosen with the sixth selection.
Read More: Kiki Iriafen Scouting Report: Will the USC Star Be Golden State’s New Face of the Franchise?
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