Social Media Is Freaking Out After Discovering Little-Known WNBA Star With “Lethal Face Card”
She started her college career at Penn State before transferring to Indiana.
A team headshot started circulating online this week. Almost nobody recognized the player in it.
X account CGBBURNER shared the photo with a simple caption, asking: “hol on who this?”
The image showed a smiling face in a Phoenix Mercury jersey, and it quickly picked up traction among fans who’d apparently never seen her before.
That player is Shay Ciezki, and her timing couldn’t have been better.
Check her out here:
hol on who this? https://t.co/9ogZfYBeiS
— CantGuardBook (@CGBBURNER) August 31, 2026
Fans Reacted With A Mix Of Disbelief And Curiosity
Phoenix Mercury guard Shay Ciezki (5) before the game against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center. Mandatory (Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images)
Replies rolled in fast.
“New face of the WNBA,” one user wrote.
“They’re just creating WNBA players at this point,” another added.
“She don’t look like that in the game though!” a third user wrote.
“I promise you it’s way more baddies in the W than we are aware of,” someone else wrote.
“She looks AI generated,” one user commented, despite the photo being a standard team-issued headshot.
Ciezki entered the league as an undrafted rookie out of Indiana, following a college career that started at Penn State before she transferred for her final two seasons.
She earned First Team All-Big Ten honors in 2026, ranking sixth nationally in three-point percentage during her senior year. She’d stayed largely on the fringes of Phoenix‘s rotation through most of the season.
Her Breakout Game Came Right Before This Went Viral
Shay Ciezki (5) against the Minnesota Lynx at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory (Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
Ciezki delivered her best performance yet just two days before this post started spreading. She scored a career-high 15 points against the Toronto Tempo, adding five assists, five rebounds, two blocks, and a steal across 26 minutes in a 101-69 win.
That outing tied her for the team lead in scoring, giving fans a real reason to start paying attention beyond her photo.
Phoenix has struggled through a rocky 2026 season, sitting well outside playoff position even after acquiring Kelsey Plum in a blockbuster midseason trade.
With the Mercury out of playoff contention, head coach Nate Tibbetts has begun leaning on less experienced players like Ciezki down the stretch, following a similar approach the team took earlier this season after clearing roster spots for younger talent.
Phoenix’s next game comes Sept. 17 against Portland, giving Ciezki another chance to build on the moment that just introduced her to a much wider audience right before the Women’s Basketball World Cup.
