Arizona Wildcats Esmery Martinez, Helena Pueyo both 2nd-round picks in Monday's WNBA Draft

Dreams do come true.

Just ask Arizona Wildcat Esmery Martinez, as the New York Liberty selected her with the 17th pick (the fifth pick of the second round) in Monday night’s WNBA Draft.

Her journey to this point wasn’t easy by any stretch; Martinez, the first Dominican-born athlete to be selected in the WNBA draft, has previously said, “It was hard, but at the same time nothing is easy in life. I’ve got to keep working hard for what I want.”

She wasn’t the only Wildcat who heard her name called as Helena Pueyo was selected by the Connecticut Sun just a few picks later at No. 22 (the 10th pick of the second round).

“I knew that they were going to have a great shot, but I wasn’t certain,” Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. “I’m just so happy because they were such important players for us and two very good basketball players that I think have a good shot at making the WNBA.”

Barnes has now had five players drafted over the last four seasons. The other three before Monday: Aari McDonald (No. 3 pick to the Atlanta Dream in 2021), Trinity Baptiste (No. 24 pick to the Indiana Fever in 2021) and Jade Loville (No. 33 pick to the Seattle Storm in 2023).

Arizona has had 13 players drafted into the WNBA and Barnes was the very first one. In addition to McDonald and Baptiste being selected in the same draft, LaKeisha Taylor and Elizabeth Pickney were both picked in 2002.

The UA was one of six women’s college programs to have multiple players selected among Monday’s three-round, 36-pick draft. The others: two-time national-runner-up Iowa — Hawkeye Caitlin Clark unsurprisingly went No. 1 overall to the Indiana Fever — Ohio State, UConn, Gonzaga and USC. The Wildcats saw nine of the 36 picks on their schedule at various points of the 2023-24 season.

Both Martinez and Pueyo saw their draft stock rise over the last few months of the season.

For Martinez, it not only was her rebounding and her toughness — that includes playing through a busted lip and migraine headaches — but also new new-found perimeter game and better ball handling skills this season.

“Esmery has played here two years — two great years,” Barnes said. “She’s gotten better. She’s so strong. She’s such a great rebounder. I think she’s improved her versatility and her shooting percentage. I think that she just has a tremendous amount of potential still. I think she can make a WNBA team because she’s an athlete, and if not, she’s going to have a really long career in Europe.”

Barnes knows how hard it is to make an opening day roster for the WNBA, especially with fewer than 144 total spots available. However, she said that just getting drafted, getting into the system and going to training camp, “you have a high probability of getting re-picked.

“You can get re-picked and brought back on waivers like Sam Thomas was (last season) and so you have more opportunities to be able to make the league, because then you’re familiar with teams,” Barnes said.

More scouts watched Martinez after her explosive Bay Area weekend back in February. That’s when she led the Wildcats in road wins over No. 3 Stanford and Cal, collecting 37 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists over the two-game sweep. She earned Associated Press national and Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.

At the time Martinez, a versatile forward, finished her college career, she was the lone active NCAA Division I player with 1,500 points, 1,200 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 steals and 100 blocks in a career.

She played her final two seasons of collegiate basketball at Arizona after starting out at West Virginia.

Martinez came to the United States when she was 17 years old with two goals in mind: to be the first member of her family to graduate from college (she accomplished this last fall) and to become a professional basketball player to support her family.

“Esmery deserves all the credit,” UA assistant Bett Shelby said earlier this season. “She has put herself in this his position because of her hard work and her determination and her resiliency, and nobody can ever take any of that from her. It’s just really rewarding to watch.”

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Martinez goes to a Liberty team full of players like Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot and Sabrina Ionescu that finished as the WNBA’s runner-up last season.

Pueyo joins a team with veterans like DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas, as well as DiJonai Carrington and Sydney Wiese.

Pueyo, the 6-foot guard from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, caught the attention of the scouts not when she collecting steals (and ending up UA’s career leader with 312) and throwing spot-on passes to her teammates, but she started to score. She averaged 16 points over the last 10 games of the season and led the Wildcats to their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

Barnes said earlier that Pueyo “pushed herself to a whole different level” this season.

Both players spurned offers to play professionally internationally to finish out their fifth years at Arizona.

“I was thinking like, ‘OK, I think I need to take this opportunity to stay one more year to maybe have the chance to go into the league, and especially with this young team, I can do more big things,’” Pueyo said previously.

“I think it was more that mindset, that confidence to ‘OK, I need I need to do this. I need to be more aggressive, and I need to look more for my shot.’ I think these last two, three months, it was really key for me for the next level.”

She did just that.

“No. 1 thing that got better is she started looking for herself as a shooter,” Former UA coach and analyst Joan Bonvicini said. “Great leader, not a good leader, a great leader. Players respect her and they like playing with her. I can’t tell you how important that is. She has really good size. Good handles, outstanding defender, excellent passer, good quickness. She’s a pro.”

Pueyo was a Wildcat for all five seasons.

She came to Tucson not knowing much English and has left her mark on the program.

She leaves as a two-time captain, two-time Pac-12 all-defensive team member and one all-Pac-12 team nod. She also owns the single-season steals mark with 110, which is fourth all-time in the league. In addition, Pueyo is in Arizona’s top 10 in numerous categories, including minutes played in a single season (third with 1,250) and career 3-point percentage (fifth at 36%).

“Helena had an amazing year,” Barnes said. “I think she really played well towards the end of the season. She’s a capable scorer and she’s versatile. I think she even went lower than a lot of guards. She’s better though. I’m just proud to see other people recognize her talents. And it’s been fun to watch her grow for five years. It’s been really amazing.”