How Alysha Clark, a former Mt. Juliet and MTSU basketball star, became irreplaceable in the WNBA

Very little about Alysha Clark’s basketball career has made much sense.

She began as a volleyball player and track athlete, but somehow found her way to the basketball court in high school. She was only 5-foot-8, but ended up playing against much taller players in the post.

And very few colleges were interested in her after high school, yet she’s still playing today in the WNBA.

Somehow, often against challenging odds, Clark made it all work and that’s why she was selected to The Tennessean All-Decade 2000s Girls High School Basketball Team.

Clark was a TSSAA Class AAA Miss Basketball who led Mt. Juliet to the 2005 state championship, a four-time conference player of the year between Belmont and Middle Tennessee State, the NCAA’s leading scorer in back-to-back seasons and has played on three WNBA championship teams over the last 11 seasons.

Alysha Clark started late in sports and basketball

Clark, 36, skipped youth sports and didn’t start participating until she was a seventh grader living with her family in Topeka, Kansas.

She played volleyball and developed into one of the top high school track athletes in the 100-meter dash in Kansas. She decided to give basketball a try in the tradition-rich Mt. Juliet program after moving to Tennessee after the school year had started when Clark was a sophomore.

Clark, a strong student in the classroom, said her disciplined work ethic with her class work was beneficial when she became an athlete.

“I’ve always had a competitive, winning mindset, but it was shown in different ways because I didn’t play sports growing up,” Clark said. “When I was in the classroom I was like, ‘Oh, I want to have the best book report, the best science project, the best whatever.’ Then when I got into sports I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is another way I can channel this mindset.'”

Not surprisingly, Clark was a quick learner on the court and found success quickly.

“Her skill level in basketball was very average when she came to us,” said former Mt. Juliet basketball coach Chris Fryer, who coached Clark in high school. “She was raw, but we put them in a little five-on-five deal and let them play and you could see her athleticism as far as rebounding the ball or chasing balls down. She wasn’t as skilled as our other kids, but she was a much better athlete. Then as a player she was like a sponge and she just got better everyday.”

Mt. Juliet faced a dilemma: What to do with Alysha Clark

After Fryer and his assistant John Simms, who coached the post players, realized they had a special talent in Clark, the next step was deciding how to use her in the most effective way. And with the season approaching soon they had to do it in a hurry.

She was 5-foot-8 and her ability to learn quickly coupled with her unusual athleticism meant she probably could play any position on the floor.

“Because she came in late in November we had to get her caught up quick and we didn’t have enough time to say, ‘Can she play guard? Can we teach her to dribble the ball with both hands? Can she be a great passer?'” Fryer said.

That helped Fryer and Simms make their decision. Stick Clark near the basket in the post and see what happens. Their gut feeling was Clark’s natural ability would help her figure out a way to score no matter how stiff the competition was that she faced.

It was a coaching strategy that has been replicated throughout Clark’s lengthy career.

Rick Insell’s secret to making Alysha Clark the nation’s leading scorer at MTSU

At MTSU, Clark was still an undersized post player at 5-10. But she somehow led the nation in scoring as a junior with a 27.5 points per game average and as a senior with a 28.3 average. She set the top six single-game scoring marks in Lady Raider history with six games of 44-plus points, including a school-record 50 points.

Clark scored 1,756 points in two seasons at MTSU after she had scored 1,109 points in her freshman and sophomore seasons at Belmont.

“We got her the ball,” MTSU coach Rick Insell said. “Chris and John were masters at getting Alysha the ball in high school and taking advantage of her natural ability. We saw how well it had worked there and we just did the same thing. Why would you not?”

How an underrecruited overachiever like Alysha Clark ended up in the WNBA

Clark has faced obstacles and naysayers throughout her career.

Even after being Miss Basketball and leading Mt. Juliet to the state championship with a 37-1 record as a senior she was not heavily recruited.

Maybe it was her lack of size for a post player. Or maybe it was the season-ending injury she sustained as a junior when she cracked her hip. It was the same injury that ended Bo Jackson’s career.

For whatever reason Clark was not a hot college prospect. Vanderbilt showed some interest, but never offered a scholarship so Clark signed with Belmont.

Then even after all she accomplished at Belmont, where she was the two-time Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, and MTSU, where she was the two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, Clark’s transition to the WNBA was not smooth either.

After being selected in the second round of the 2010 WNBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs Clark was cut.

She played professionally in Israel for two yeas then signed a free agent deal with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2012. In 2018 and 2020 Clark helped lead the Storm to the WNBA championship.

After spending the 2022 season with the Washington Mystics Clark went to Las Vegas in 2023 where she played on her third championship team.

“I like to think my adaptability has helped me throughout my career; I am able to adapt to whatever role is needed,” said Clark, who was the WNBA’s Sixth Player of the Year in 2023, made the All-Defensive first team in 2020 and second team in 2019.

“I’m a winner at heart. I don’t care if it’s me getting 20 points or my teammates getting 20 points. Whatever it takes to win, whatever it takes to win championships, that’s what I’m about. And I’ve just created an invaluable position for myself. I’m extremely versatile, I pride myself on my leadership and when you have those intangibles that’s what coaches want. The key is making yourself difficult to replace and I believe I’ve done that.”

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Alysha Clark: Former MTSU star, now star in WNBA