All-Star Beard rocks the WNBL - Player of the Week

American WNBA All-Star, Alana Beard, has made a major impact on the Price Attack Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) in the three rounds she has been playing for the Canberra Capitals, and this week has been named the Round Seven Virgin Blue Player of the Week.

Beard, a 2005 WNBA All-Star, plays for the Washington Mystics and was coaxed to Australia by her WNBA counterparts, Tully Bevilaqua and Lauren Jackson. The Capitals needed a little more fire power after Jackson’s injury put doubt over her entire season, and Beard was contacted, convinced, signed and on a plane within a couple of days.

She may not have been able to get her new team over the line in her first match against Bulleen Melbourne in Round Five, but when they came up against League leaders, the Dandenong Jayco Rangers, in Round Six, she helped them to a crucial and exciting two-point win.

In Round Seven the Capitals split their two matches, going down to Adelaide in double overtime on Friday night, and then, thanks to the 2004 second overall Draftee, narrowly missed another extra period against Perth on Sunday.

The 23-year-old had 65 points over the weekend as well as 22 rebounds. She played an amazing 50 minutes of basketball in Friday night’s match against Adelaide, scoring a game-high 41 points at 67% from the field (72% from inside the arc). She added 12 points from the free throw line, had 12 rebounds, four assists and six steals.

Against Perth on Sunday she played almost the full 40 minutes of the match, scoring 24 points, including three of five three pointers. The most important of these threes was a Hail Mary buzzer beater on full time that won the match for the Caps.

From the frontcourt, Beard, who didn’t want her team to be pushed into another extra time period, launched a long-bomb as the buzzer sounded to take the match by only those three points. Beard also had 10 rebounds for the match.

Players of the Week will be announced every Tuesday throughout the season with the 2005/06 League MVP being presented with a trip for two courtesy of Virgin Blue and the Price Attack WNBL at the end of the season.

Other players in contention for the award in Round 7 were Rohanee Cox (Townsville), Jacinta Hamilton (Dandenong) and Erin Phillips (Adelaide), Deanna Smith (Perth), Katrina Hibbert (Bulleen Melbourne) and Trisha Fallon (Sydney Uni).