Emotional Night: Barbers Hill's Collier reflects on WNBA Draft, picked No. 1 overall

HOUSTON - It was a moment that Charli Collier was destined for.

Collier, wearing a dress designed by former First Lady Michelle Obama's stylist Sergio Hudson, sat behind a single round table. To her right was her mother Ponda and to her left younger brother Casey, who is a lineman at USC. In the middle of the table was a beautiful bouquet of pink roses and just beside it a framed photo of her late father Elliott.

A night that Elliott, who passed away in April 2016, envisioned for his daughter since the eighth grade was here and his dream of her being No.1 came to fruition.

Charli Collier - the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings.

"I thought about him the whole time, the whole moment he was there," Collier, who pointed straight to the sky the moment her name was called, said. "It was just really emotional. It was a crazy feeling. He always told me I'd be No. 1. To have that come into play it was crazy. I was a little nervous when [WNBA Commissioner] Cathy [Engelbert] came and made the pick, it was emotions everywhere.

"I still can't believe it. It's unreal and I can't put it into words."