Alana Beard

Alana Beard is a former basketball player for the WNBA. She was known for playing for the Washington Mystics and the Los Angeles Sparks. She also became the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year for two years straight. However, she announced her retirement in January 2020 after incurring an injury that impacts her scoring contribution to the Sparks.

Player's Profile

Alana Monique Beard was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, and entered Southwood High School. She was one of the key players to bring victory to her school after winning 4 state titles. In college, she attended Duke University and became the first NCAA player to gain 2600 points with 400 steals and 500 assists. Truly, her defensive abilities led her team to win 4 regular seasons.

Career

When Beard joined the 2004 WNBA Draft, she was the second overall pick by the Washington Mystics. As a rookie player, she became a great help to the team during the playoffs. However, the Mystics were defeated by the Connecticut Suns.

In her second year with the Mystics, her performance improved as she was able to score 14.1 points per game. Unfortunately, the Mystics never made it to the playoffs. In 2006, she recorded a career-high 19.2 points per game, and she was included in the WNBA All-Star. Although her performance is the highlight of her team, still they failed to proceed to the next rounds after being beaten by the Suns.

After her long stay with the Mystics, she decided to move forward with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2012. She became the team's shooting guard and with her cooperation with Candace Parker, Kristi Toliver, and Nneka Ogwumike, they became a runner-up in the Western Conference.

Perhaps her career highlight was during the 2017-18 season when she won the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. She was the second Sparks member to win the Defensive Player of the Year after Lisa Leslie.

Achievements:

• 2007 Israeli National League

Champion

• 2007 Israeli State Cup winner
• 2009 Polish National League Champion
• 2005-2007, 2009 WNBA All-Star
• 2017, 2018 WNBA Defensive Player of

the Year

• 2016 WNBA Champion