This post was updated April 16 at 8:12 p.m.

Moreno Valley local Charisma Osborne is taking her talents to the Valley of the Sun. 

The former UCLA women’s basketball guard and the program’s second-leading scorer was drafted as the No. 25 pick by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2024 WNBA Draft. One of 15 players invited to attend the draft at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Osborne was the final invitee to hear her name called Monday night, making her the first pick of the third round.

Projected as the No. 11 pick on the Sporting News’ board and No. 14 in ESPN’s mock draft, Osborne was also widely considered a late first-round pick at the end of the 2022-2023 season. But despite averaging 17.33 points across the first three postseason games this year, Osborne scored five and eight points paired with six and three rebounds in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 and Sweet 16, respectively. 

Osborne steadily climbed the scoring ranks throughout her five-year collegiate career while consistently tackling challenging defensive assignments.

According to Synergy, Osborne slotted in as the 16th-ranked Division I player in plays designated as the primary defender – amounting to at total of 336 this season – and was ninth out of 69 defenders on at least 300 plays this season in efficiency, with .688 points allowed per play. Osborne outperformed guards Nika Mühl of UConn and Celeste Taylor of Ohio State – who were drafted at No. 14 and No. 15, respectively, in that category.

Osborne also took top-four honors in field goal percentage allowed with a sub-30% figure. 

For her efforts on both ends of the ball, Osborne concluded her collegiate career with four All-Pac-12 honors and two All-Defensive Pac-12 honors. She became just the second guard in Pac-12 history with 2,000 points and 800 rebounds in NCAA play. 

After filling a point guard role out of necessity during UCLA’s short-handed 2021-2022 campaign, Osborne navigated her way back to her natural shooting guard position upon the arrival of now-sophomore guard Kiki Rice in 2022. The backcourt pair commanded the Bruins to their highest ranking in program history at No. 2 for seven consecutive weeks earlier this season.

In her final year donning the UCLA jersey, Osborne cemented career averages of 14.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while increasing her offensive efficiency in her last season. She shot a career-high 41.6% from the field and paced the Bruins in both points scored and steals. 

Osborne will now commence the next chapter of her journey with the Phoenix Mercury as the WNBA season kicks off May 14.