Alana Beard

Alana Beard
No. 0 – Los Angeles Sparks
Position Guard / Forward
League WNBA
Personal information
Born (1982-05-14) May 14, 1982
Shreveport, Louisiana
Nationality American
Listed height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight 160 lb (73 kg)
Career information
High school Southwood (Shreveport, Louisiana)
College Duke (2000–2004)
WNBA draft 2004 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the Washington Mystics
Playing career 2004–present
Career history
2004–2011 Washington Mystics
2012–present Los Angeles Sparks
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Medals
Women's Basketball
Representing USA
World Championship
2006 Brazil Team Competition
U18 and U19
2000 U18 Mar Del Plata Team Competition
2001 U19 Brno Team Competition

Alana Monique Beard (born May 14, 1982) is an American professional women's basketball player with the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. She was the first Duke women's basketball player to have her jersey number (20) retired.[1] She resides in the Washington, DC area, where she is founder and President of the Alana Beard Foundation. The foundation currently sponsors 7 AAU teams. Six teams are located in Maryland called Alana Beard's Future and one team in Shreveport, Louisiana called the Southern Mystics.

Early years

Beard was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on May 14, 1982 to LeRoy and Marie Beard.[2]

High school

Beard played for Southwood High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she led her team to four consecutive state titles. The team compiled a record of 144–6 while she was on the team.[2] She scored 2,646 points during her four years, and finished her high school career with 53 consecutive victories.[2] Beard was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2000 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored fifteen points.[3]

College

Coach Gail Goestenkors, then at Duke University, successfully recruited Beard. During her four years, she set a school scoring record of 2,687 points. Beard is the first NCAA basketball player to amass over 2,600 points, 500 assist and 400 steals.[2] During the four years Beard played for Duke, the team won four regular season and tournaments championships. Beard helped Duke reach the Final Four twice in her career.[2] In her senior year, the team achieved the first ever number one ranking in the final AP poll of the year.[2]

Duke statistics

Source[4]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2000-01 Duke 30 509 51.2 19.6 78.7 4.5 - 3.5 - 17.0
2001-02 Duke 35 694 57.2 37.9 75.3 6.1 4.4 3.3 0.7 19.8
2002-03 Duke 37 813 52.7 28.2 77.6 6.9 3.0 2.8 1.3 22.0
2003-04 Duke 34 671 49.6 31.3 77.8 5.4 3.9 2.4 1.4 19.7
Career Duke 136 2687 52.7 30.0 77.4 5.8 3.7 3.0 1.1 19.8

WNBA career

Beard was drafted in 2004 with the 2nd overall pick.[1] In her rookie season, she led the Mystics to the playoffs, despite the loss of star Chamique Holdsclaw halfway through the season. They lost to the Connecticut Sun in the first round of the playoffs.

At present she is recovering from an ankle tendon, Achilles, injury. http://www.wnba.com/mystics/news/alana_beards_road_recovery_2010_05_07.html

USA Basketball

Beard was a member of the USA Women's U18 team which won the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mar Del Plata, Argentina. The event was held in July 2000, when the USA team defeated Cuba to win the championship. Beard helped the team the gold medal, starting all five games and leading all scorers with 15.4 points per game. She was the leading scorer in the opening game against Puerto Rico with 23 points (tied with Aminata Yanni) and the leading scorer against Argentina with 24 points.[5]

She continued as a member of the team which went on to the World Championships in Brno, Czech Republic. Beard was the second leading scorer for the USA team (behind Diana Taurasi) with 18.0 points per game. That scoring placed her fifth among all participants. She helped the team win the bronze medal.[6]

Beard was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009.[7] The team selected to play for the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics is usually chosen from these participants. At the conclusion of the training camp, the team will travel to Ekaterinburg, Russia, where they compete in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational.[7]

Beard was one of twenty players named to the national team pool. Twelve of this group will be chosen to represent the USA in the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics.[8]

Honors and awards

High school

College

Professional

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Alana Beard". WNBA. Archived from the original on August 23, 2009. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Porter p. 32
  3. ↑ "WBCA High School All-America Game Box Scores". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Women's Basketball Player stats". NCAA. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Fourth Women's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team -- 2000". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Fifth FIBA Women's U19/Junior World CHhampionship -- 2001". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  7. 1 2 "USA Basketball Women's National Team To Tip-Off Training Tomorrow In D.C.". USA Basketball. Retrieved 2009-10-01.
  8. ↑ "Charles, Moore lead U.S. pool additions". ESPN. March 3, 2010. Archived from the original on March 6, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2010.
  9. ↑ "The Wade Trophy". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Duke Tradition" (PDF). Duke. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Women's Basketball Lowe's Senior Class Award Winner". Premier Sports Management. April 4, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2009.

References

External links

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