Two days after losing to Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament final, Stanford senior center Jayne Appel was selected fifth overall in the WNBA Draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars.

This season, Appel was the emotional leader of a Cardinal team that was ranked second nationally all season and only lost two games, both to No. 1 UConn. She scored 13.2 points per game and grabbed 8.7 rebounds per game while shooting 51.2 percent for the season.

Appel is also Stanford’s all-time leader in rebounds and blocks.

Appel was considered the top professional prospect by some analysts heading into the season. However, sustained knee, ankle and foot injuries saw her miss significant time in the 2009-10 season. Those injuries, combined with the rise of UConn’s Tina Charles, saw Appel’s draft stock slip somewhat to fifth while Charles was selected first by the Connecticut Sun.

Appel would play the first home game of her professional career in the same building in San Antonio, the Alamodome, in which the Cardinal fell to UConn in the national title game on Tuesday.