Alana Beard the biography

Alana Beard, Basketball Player, - Biography

USA Basketball player.

Height 5 foot 11
Weight 160 Pounds

born May 14, 1982 in Shreveport, Louisiana

Alana Monique Beard is a basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In Australia's WNBL she plays for the Canberra Capitals.. In the WNBA for the Washington Mystics,
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).
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 first round of the playoffs.

Duke Career Statistics: 19.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.7 asp, 3.0 spg, 1.1 bpg

WNBA Career Statistics: 14.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.8 asp, 1.80 spg, .73 bpg

She is left handed, and was very exited when WNBA first started when she was a youngster, and is delighted and feels blessed to be a WNBA player.

Her WNBA idols include Tamika Catchings and she likes the thought of playing Diana Taurasi.

This site was finished in December 2006.

Pictures of Alana Beard

Picture of her in the game

In a tussle with a player

Bouncing the ball like a Harlam Globetrotter

Sitting on a chair

In another tall girl tussle

On the Cover of a magazine

She like one of those sporty tallish girls you see sometimes, she balancing a ball on her head

With her fit girl, in normal clothes look

Some kind of move