Alysha Clark

Alysha Angelica Clark (born July 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted in the second round of the 2010 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars. In 2018, Clark won a championship with the Seattle Storm as they swept the Mystics in the 2018 WNBA Finals, and in 2020 won her second championship as the Storm swept the Las Vegas Aces. She was also League MVP in 2018 when her team CCC Polkowice (Basketball) of Poland in the Basket Liga Kobiet Basketball won that League's Championship. In 2019, she won a Ligue Féminine de Basketball championship with her French team, Lyon Asvel. She is known for her swarming defense and clutch shooting.

Alysha Clark

Clark at Madison Square Garden in 2015
No. 7 – Las Vegas Aces
Position	Small forward
League	WNBA
Personal information
Born	(1987-07-07) July 7, 1987 (age 35) Denver, Colorado
Nationality	American / Israeli
Listed height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight	167 lb (76 kg)
Career information
High school	Mount Juliet (Mount Juliet, Tennessee)
College	Belmont (2005–2007) Middle Tennessee (2008–2010)
WNBA draft	2010 / Round: 2 / Pick: 17th overall
Selected by the San Antonio Silver Stars
Playing career	2010–present
Career history
2012–2020	Seattle Storm
2010–2011	Hapoel Rishon LeZion
2011–2013	A.S. Ramat HaSharon
2014–2016	Maccabi Bnot Ashdod
2016–2017	Adana ASKİ SK
2017–2018	CCC Polkowice
2018–2022	ASVEL
2022–present	Elitzur Ramla
2023-present	Las Vegas Aces
Career highlights and awards
2x WNBA champion (2018, 2020) WNBA All-Defensive First Team (2020) WNBA All-Defensive Second Team (2019) Ligue Féminine de Basketball champion (2019) Basket Liga Kobiet MVP (2018) 2× Sun Belt Player of the Year (2009, 2010)
Stats at WNBA.com

Early life

Clark was born in Denver, Colorado to Jan and Duane Clark, who were both musicians. She is the younger sister of American Idol contestant Corey Clark. Clark's maternal grandparents were Jews and could speak Hebrew, according to Clark.^[1] However, she was baptized as a child and identifies as a Christian.^[2]

 

Clark in 2018

The family later moved to her hometown of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, where she attended Mt. Juliet High School.^[3]

College career

Before Clark attended Middle Tennessee State University, she played two years at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. At Belmont she helped the Lady Bruins to their first ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2007. After two years she transferred to Middle Tennessee. Clark sat out the 2007–08 season, as required by NCAA rules for transfer students. In 2008–09 she averaged a national best and school-record 27.5 points per game. The following year she averaged 28.3 points per game to lead the nation among Division I schools.^[4] At Middle Tennessee she earned Sun Belt Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010.^[5]

Professional career

Clark was drafted with the 17th overall pick in the second round of the 2010 WNBA Draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars,^[6] but did not make a roster that year or in 2011. In 2012, she signed with the Seattle Storm.^[7]

In 2018, Clark started every game of the Storm's WNBA Championship run. In Seattle's Western Conference Finals series against the Phoenix Mercury, Clark was the Storm's main choice to guard Diana Taurasi, and in the decisive Game 5, she also logged a double-double with 13 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.^[8] In the Storm's championship-clinching win in the WNBA Finals against the Washington Mystics, Clark led the team in playing time, and added 15 points.^[9]

In February 2021, Clark signed with the Washington Mystics, but was ruled out of playing during the 2021 WNBA season due to a Lisfranc injury received while playing in France.^[10]

In December 2022, Clark signed with the Israeli champions Elitzur Ramla, until the end of the season. She went back to training under Shira Halyon, who trained her in the past in the EuroCup.

Career statistics

WNBA

Source^[11]

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career high	°	League leader

†	Denotes seasons in which Clark won a WNBA championship

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2012	Seattle	23	0	10.3	.547	.450	.706	2.0	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.8	3.4
2013	Seattle	33	0	15.3	.453	.390	.760	2.5	0.4	0.4	0.2	1.1	4.0
2014	Seattle	34°	22	16.5	.448	.246	.696	2.1	0.6	0.5	0.3	0.7	4.2
2015	Seattle	33	31	23.1	.544	.353	.775	3.7	1.2	0.7	0.2	1.1	6.9
2016	Seattle	33	32	27.6	.484	.387	.847	3.7	1.9	0.7	0.1	1.3	9.0
2017	Seattle	33	33	28.3	.525	.328	.745	4.2	1.6	0.7	0.1	1.0	8.2
2018^†	Seattle	31	30	26.2	.480	.392	.846	3.5	1.9	1.0	0.1	1.2	7.4
2019	Seattle	31	30	28.4	.481	.481	.818	4.7	2.5	1.1	0.5	1.5	9.6
2020^†	Seattle	22°	22°	28.8	.558	.522	.800	4.2	2.7	1.5	0.5	0.9	10.0
2022	Washington	29	29	26.4	.464	.303	.913	4.5	2.0	0.9	0.3	1.3	8.0
Career	10 years, 2 teams	302	229	23.2	.496	.384	.796	3.5	1.5	0.8	0.2	1.1	7.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2013	Seattle	2	0	18.5	.455	.333	1.000	5.0	0.5	0.0	0.7	0.5	7.0
2016	Seattle	1	1	28.0	.333	.000	1.000	2.0	3.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	8.0
2017	Seattle	1	1	26.0	.667	–	1.000	5.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	6.0
2018^†	Seattle	8	8	35.0	.500	.458	.875	5.9	2.6	0.5	0.3	0.6	8.5
2019	Seattle	2	2	28.5	.143	.200	.857	3.5	1.0	2.0	0.5	2.5	4.5
2020^†	Seattle	6	6	30.5	.453	.348	1.000	6.5	3.2	0.7	0.7	0.7	10.3
2022	Washington	2	2	25.5	.571	.500	.667	3.5	3.0	1.5	0.5	0.5	6.0
Career	7 years, 2 teams	22	20	30.1	.457	.381	.900	5.3	2.3	0.7	0.4	0.8	8.1

College

Source^[12]

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
2005–06	Belmont	30	599	54.3	22.7	74.5	10.9	1.3	1.7	0.5	20.0
2006–07	Belmont	30	510	58.0	36.4	74.4	12.7	1.9	2.2	0.5	17.0
2007–08	Middle Tennessee	redshirt/transfer
2008–09	Middle Tennessee	34	935	60.7	41.4	79.0	9.8	2.1	2.1	0.6	27.5
2009–10	Middle Tennessee	29	821	61.4	32.1	77.7	11.6	3.4	2.4	0.7	28.3
Career		123	2865	59.0	33.3	76.6	11.2	2.2	2.1	0.6	23.3

See also

• List of select Jewish basketball players
• List of NCAA Division I women's basketball players with 2,500 points and 1,000 rebounds
• List of NCAA Division I women's basketball career scoring leaders

References

1. "Basketball / Profile / Welcome to the club – Haaretz – Israel News". Haaretz.com. January 6, 2012. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
2. "Calm In The Storm". Fellowship of Christian Athletes. July 7, 2015. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
3. . Archived from the original on May 19, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
4. "NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Records Through 2013–14" (PDF). NCAA. p. 15. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
5. . The City Paper. Nashville. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
6. . Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
7. "Clark evolves into star for Seattle Storm". ESPN.com. September 9, 2018. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
8. "SEA vs PHO". WNBA Stats. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
9. "SEA vs WAS". WNBA Stats. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
10. Diaz, Greydy (April 2, 2021). "Mystics announce that Alysha Clark had successful foot surgery". Bullets Forever. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
11. "Alysha Clark Career Statistics". wnba.com. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
12. "Women's Basketball Player stats". NCAA. Retrieved October 2, 2015.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com   and Basketball-Reference.com  
• at the Wayback Machine (archived April 11, 2010)
• at the Wayback Machine (archived May 1, 2010)