Early years

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

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. She scored 2,646 points during her four years, and finished her high school career with 53 consecutive victories. Beard was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2000 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored fifteen points.

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. 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. In her senior year, the team achieved the first ever number one ranking in the final AP poll of the year.

Duke statistics

Source

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. 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.

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.

Beard was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009. 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.

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.

Honors and awards

High school

• USAT Second team All-America 2000
• Parade Second team All-America 2000

College

• John R. Wooden Award-Women's Basketball National Player of the Year 2004
• State Farm Wade Trophy-National Player of the Year 2004
• Associated Press -National Player of the Year 2004
• Naismith Player of the Year
• Lowe's Senior CLASS Award 2004
• United States 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 Advantage Senior Class Award 2004
• Kodak All-American 2002, 2003, 2004
• AP All-American 2002, 2003, 2004
• United States Basketball Writers Association All-America 2002, 2003, 2004
• Women's Basketball News Service All-America 2001, 2003, 2004
• Kodak/WBCA All-District II 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
• ACC Female Athlete of the Year 2003, 2004
• ACC Women's Legends Class of 2015

Professional

• 2005 WNBA All-Star Team
• 2006 WNBA All-Star Team
• 2007 WNBA All-Star Team
• 2009 WNBA All-Star Selection

[ Source: Wikipedia ]