WNBA Bio: Alana Beard

WNBA Bio: Alana Beard
By Eric Williams

Beard, the best player on the Washington Mystics, may be remembered 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.
By the time beard left Duke University for greener pastures – and more wealth – the University decided to retire her uniform number 20 was retired during a home game against the Tennessee. 

A 5-11, combination wing player, Beard was also a three time First Team AP All American, and in 2004, she won the first annual John Wooden Award for a women's basketball player in addition to the 2004 College Player of the Year Award. Beard is also the career scoring leader at the Duke University women's program with 2,687 points. 

In Beard’s first WNBA season, she led the Mystics to the playoffs, despite the loss of star Chamique Holdsclaw halfway through the season. Last season, Beard ranked ninth in the league in scoring (14.1 ppg.) and 11th in steals (1.5 spg.) and was selected to play in the WNBA All-Star contest as well as being named second team All-WNBA defensively. 

In short, Beard, who is averaging a shade over 20 points per game this season, is one of the finest players in the WNBA today – and it looks as thought she is going to remain that way for a long time to come.