WNBA Drafts Ameshya Williams-Holliday; First HBCU Player in 20 Years

GULFPORT, Miss. – Jackson State University Women’s Basketball student-athlete Ameshya Williams-Holliday was selected in the WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever.

Ameshya Williams-Holliday (6-4, Sr., Gulfport, Miss.), a third-round pick 25 overall, becomes the first HBCU player selected in the WNBA since 2002, and is the second Southwestern Athletic Conference player and sixth player from an HBCU selected in the history of the league. Williams-Holliday is the second-highest drafted HBCU player in league history.

Ameshya Williams-Holliday is a three-time first-team All-SWAC selection (2020, 2021, 2022), a three-time league Defensive Player of the Year (2020, 2021, 2022), and in 2022 became the first SWAC player since 2019 to win both SWAC Player Of The Year and Defensive Player Of The Year honors in the same season.

For her career, Ameshya Williams-Holliday averaged 16.1 points and 11.2 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game. She scored in double-figures 71 times (including final 39 consecutive games), 53 10+ rebound games, 52 double-doubles (including two 20-20 games), and 60 games of 2+ blocks.

In 2021-22, Williams-Holliday led the conference in scoring (19.2 ppg), rebounds (11.4 rpg), field goal percentage (57.7%), and blocks (2.7 bpg). Williams-Holliday recorded 22 double-doubles during the season (tied for 6th nationally) while scoring in double figures in every game (17 10+ point games, 12 20+ point games, 1 30+ point game), and had 22 games with at least two blocked shots.

Ameshya Williams-Holliday scored a career-high 33 points with 11 rebounds vs. Florida A&M (Feb. 12), and scored 18 points with a season-high 21 rebounds, and a career-high tying seven blocked shots at Arkansas (Dec. 9).

About the SWAC
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is considered one of the premier HBCU conferences in the country and currently ranks among the elite in the nation in terms of HBCU alumni playing with professional sports teams. 

Current championship competition offered by the league includes competition for men in Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field and Tennis. 

Women’s competition is offered in the sports of Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Golf, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Soccer, Softball, Tennis and Volleyball. 

Source: Southwestern Athletic Conference