WNBA DRAFT
Jackson State’s Ameshya Williams-Holliday wants to set the tone for HBCUs in the WNBA draft
The Lady Tigers’ top player once almost quit basketball for good, but has reemerged as a WNBA prospect
By Mia Berry/ April 8, 2022
Lady Tigers center Ameshya Williams-Holliday (right) is looking to become Jackson State’s first player taken in the WNBA draft. Andrew Wevers/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Jackson State senior center Ameshya Williams-Holliday has always known that she belongs in the WNBA. However, five years ago, the WNBA was the last thing on her mind. Then, the current Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Player of the Year was beginning her sophomore season as a 6-foot-2 forward at Mississippi State, and expected to be a key reserve behind stars Teaira McCowan and Victoria Vivians, now members of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever, respectively.
However, something didn’t quite feel right. After coming off a freshman season in which Mississippi State advanced to the 2017 NCAA women’s final before losing to coach Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks, Williams-Holliday was burned out. She was sick of the expectations and no longer cared about playing a more prominent role for the Bulldogs or getting back to the NCAA title game. She was done with basketball. No more practices, no more layups, no more rebounds. No more coaches yelling in her ear. She no longer wanted to be a part of it.
After her team lost to South Carolina in the NCAA tournament final when she was a freshman at Mississippi State, Ameshya Williams-Holliday (right) almost quit basketball for good before transferring to Jackson State.
“I just left,” Williams-Holliday told Andscape. “I was packing my stuff. [My roommate] was crying, saying, ‘Don’t go! Don’t go!’ while I was just throwing my stuff in the car. I was hurrying up to get out of there. I got millions of texts from my coaches, from teammates, from my mom, everybody. I ignored everybody.”
Jackson State senior center Ameshya Williams-Holliday has always known that she belongs in the WNBA. However, five years ago, the WNBA was the last thing on her mind. Then, the current Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Player of the Year was beginning her sophomore season as a 6-foot-2...
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