Alana Beard
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Alana Monique Beard (born on May 14, 1982 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is a professional basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In Australia's WNBL, she plays for the Canberra Capitals.
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College years
Beard is best known as the slashing shooting guard who led Duke University to two appearances in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.
Though she has to be considered as one of the best college players in recent history, she often stood in the shadow of Diana Taurasi of the University of Connecticut who played the same four seasons as Beard and led the Huskies to three consecutive national titles to close out her career. In the 2004 WNBA Draft, Taurasi was taken first and Beard second overall.
In 2001, Beard led Duke's Blue Devils team in scoring with 17 points per game. She was named the ACC Freshman Player of the Year. She garnered the Associated Press' First Team All-American honors in 2001 and was a sophomore on a team of eight players that reached the Final Four, eventually falling to the Oklahoma Sooners. Incidentally, that team was led by Beard's future WNBA teammate Stacey Dales-Schuman.
The Blue Devils again reached the Final Four in 2003, but lost to the Tennessee Lady Vols. The 2003-2004 team was expected to reach the Final Four again but was upset by the Minnesota Gophers. That team was led by Lindsay Whalen, the current point-guard of the Connecticut Sun.
Beard was a three time Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year from 2002 to 2004. When she left Duke, her uniform number 20 was retired by the University during a home game against the Tennessee. She was a three time First Team AP All American, and in 2004, she won the first Wooden Award for a women's basketball player, and was the 2004 College Player of the Year. Alana Beard is the career scoring leader in the Duke University women's program with 2,687 points. In points in a single game she is 4th All-Time with 35 points against Maryland, January 2, 2002. She is 5th in field goals made with 15 against Maryland, January 2, 2002. Alana is 5th in field goals attempted with 23 against TCU, March 17, 2002. She is third All-Time with 11 assist against Louisiana Tech, December 2, 2001. In 2001, she recorded two games with 7 steals against UW-Milwaukee (March 17) and UNCG, December 15. As a Sophomore, she reached number one with points a season with 694 in 2001-2002 (Her scoring average was 19.8 third All-Time). In her Freshman year, she is 9th All-Time with field goals made with 194, tying Sue Harnet of 1990-1991. She is 6th All-Time with free throws made, 111 in 2000-2001. She is 8th in free throws attempted with 158 in 2001-2002. She started every game of her college career with a record of 136-136. She shot a career .527 field goal percentage. She made 582-752 free throws. She has a record of 404 steal. On January 14, 2001, Alana Beard recorded a record with 29 first half points in a game against Maryland. She is the first woman to have her jersey retired (#20).
WNBA career
Beard was drafted in 2004 with the 2nd overall pick.
In her 2004 debut WNBA season 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 semifinals.
Duke Career Statistics: 19.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.7 asp, 3.0 spg, 1.1 bpg
WNBA Career Statistics : 13.1 ppg 4.2 rpg 2.7 asp 2.0 spg 1.0 bpg
Wooden Award-National Player of the Year 2004 State Farm Wade Trophy-National Player of the Year 2004 Associated Press -National Player of the Year 2004 United States Miss Basketball Writers Association-National Player of the Year 2004 Victor Award-National Player of the Year 2003 ESPN.com-National Player of the Year 2003,2004 Bayer Adavantage Senior Class Award 2004 Kodak All-American 2002,2003,2004 AP All-American 2001,2002,2003,2004 United States Basketball Writers Association All-America 2002,2003,2004 Women's Basketball News Service All-America 2001,2002,2003,2004 Kodak/WBCA District II All-America 2001,2002,2003,2004 United States Basketball Writers Association National Freshman of the Year 2001 Sports Illustrated National Freshman of the Year 2001 Women's Basketball Journal National Freshman of the Year 2001 CBS Sportsline National Freshman of the Year 2001 Basketball Times Freshman All-America 2001 WBCA Player(s) of the Year 2004
Vital statistics
- Position: Guard/Forward
- Height: 5 ft. 11 in. / 1.8 m
- College: Duke University
- Team(s): Washington Mystics (WNBA)