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By Jim Steele
steele@mckenziebanner.com |
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Vanderbilt basketball star Ashley McElhiney was taking a
couple of final exams Friday afternoon when she got a
call from the father of Chantelle Anderson, one of her
Lady Commodore teammates."I was taking a test when he
called me and told me I was drafted," said the
diminutive hoopster.
The former Gleason all-stater and Miss Basketball winner
is poised to take that next step in her basketball
career.
The record-setting Vanderbilt point guard was drafted
Friday by the Indiana Fever of the Women's National
Basketball Association.
McElhiney was taken as the 35th overall pick in the
WNBA draft, and was the Fever's third-round draft pick.
The Indianapolis-based squad gathered the SEC trifecta,
picking Tennessee's Gwen Jackson and Louisiana State's
Detrina White in the first two rounds.
"Right now I really don't know much except I got
drafted," she said. "I was excited because Indianapolis
isn't far from home."
It's roughly 400 miles from McKenzie.
McElhiney will have some company.
"Zusi Klimeshova plays there," she said. "She and I
played together last year at Vanderbilt."
Ashley's father, Danny McElhiney, owner of
McElhiney's Men's' Wear in McKenzie, was understandably
elated as well as uncertain.
"This is a real opportunity for Ashley," said Danny
McElhiney. "But I'm not real sure how all this is
supposed to work. We're talking to some agents right
now."
McElhiney is the all-time assist leader for the Lady
Commodores, collecting 673 in her four years. She also
finished with 1,093 total points. Vanderbilt reached the
Elite eight in 2002 and the second round in 2003.
McElhiney hit nearly 42 percent of her three-point
shots. She was 224 of 547 attempts.
McElhiney was a gold-medal member of the USA team at
the World University Games. She also joined White on the
All-SEC team.
As a prep star for the Lady Bulldogs, McElhiney led
Gleason to the 1999 Class A girls state title, the
second such crown for the Gleason program.
"Ashley is a good floor leader who had a really
outstanding career at Vanderbilt," said Indiana coach
Nell Fortner, also an ESPN analyst. "She helps extend an
opponent's defense because of her 3-point shooting
ability. You're always looking for people who can feed
shooters and she's done that throughout her career."
Randy Frazier, McElhiney's coach at Gleason, says his
program's prestige stock has risen.
"I think this is the first female athlete from rural
West Tennessee to play professionally," he said. "From
watching her in second grade all the way through
college, I'm not surprised that she's reached this
level. I knew this was a possibility."
Frazier said Indiana is a good fit from the standpoint
of coaching, players and location.
"The coach that signed Ashley at Vanderbilt is the
assistant coach at Indiana," he said. "And Zusi is there
and that's good. If Ashley can stay healthy, I expect
her to do well."
McElhiney says that the WNBA is something she's
wanted and she knows that a challenge lies ahead.
"I know I'm going to have to work to make it, but
that'll be okay," she said. "I'm up for that."
In addition, McElhiney may have an opportunity to
join Jim Foster's Ohio State Lady Buckeye coaching
staff.
"I'm thinking about that, too," she said. "He (Foster)
mentioned it to me briefly and I haven't talked to him
lately, but I think that's a possibility."
McElhiney isn't from Chicago, Detroit, New York or
Los Angeles. She is from Gleason, population 1,500. She
says playing in big venues will be nothing new because
she's accustomed to that at Vandy. But she has served as
a role model for kids from small towns everywhere.
"If you work hard enough," she said, "everything pays
off."
Indiana's preseason opener is May 8 at Charlotte,
followed by a May 14 home date against Phoenix. The
Fever open the regular season at Charlotte on May 29,
and host a regular season home opener against the
Washington Mystics on Saturday, May 31 (3:00 p.m.,
ABC-TV). |
