http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?
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Capitals connection brings in elite Washington guard to help Canberra
cope
PFitzgerald
Thursday, 27 October 2005

WNBA All Star Alana Beard has answered the Canberra Capitals' SOS and
agreed to a short-term contract with the club.
Beard, 23, is contracted to play basketball in Korea from the second
week of December until March 2006 but will help the Caps in the
meantime.

The Washington Mystics guard arrives in the national capital tomorrow
and will suit up for the Capitals in Saturday night's round-five WNBL
clash against Bulleen.

Beard replaces injured star Lauren Jackson, who could miss the season
with a stress fracture in her left shin.

Capitals management has spent the past fortnight searching for a
replacement for Jackson, receiving knockbacks from players including
Penny Taylor, Tammy Hoare and Rachael Sporn.

Such was Canberra's lack of success in the recruitment phase, it was
even in talks with veterans Shelley Sandie and Lucille Bailie about
possible comebacks.

Coach Carrie Graf said that while the former greats would have added
another dimension to the playing roster, she was thrilled to have
secured Beard's signing.

"This is huge for us, really huge," Graf said. "I'd go as far as
saying Alana is one of the best one-on-one players this country will
ever see.

"She's a flat-out quality player, is one hell of a defender and is
one of the quickest players this league will see."

Beard has been regarded as one of the most talented juniors ever to
come through the American league.

The 181cm in star has played 64 WNBA matches for Washington and was
named in this year's All Star side.

Beard was a member of the USA World Championship For Young Women team
that captured the gold medal in 2003 and was named in the five-member
All-FIBA World Championship For Young Women team following that
tournament.

She was also a member of the 2001 USA Junior World Championship team
and ranks first among all-time USA junior worlds competitors in
steals (23), second in points (126) and assists (20) and fifth in
three-point field goal percentage (.429).

In the Capitals' first two matches without Jackson last weekend,
Canberra recorded an unimpressive victory over Perth and a 24-point
loss against Sydney.

Both performances, however, hinted the side would struggle to compete
with the league's heavyweights in Jackson's absence. But the
confidence returned to the squad yesterday with the news of Beard's
imminent arrival.

"We know it's only short-term but for the time being at least we no
longer need to look at recruitment," Graf said.

"Alana gives us that scoring punch we've been missing without
Loz. "Don't get me wrong, Alana is not Lauren Jackson but she's
athletic and mighty talented and one of the best replacements we
could have scored for ourselves."

Beard had formed a friendship with Jackson and Tully Bevilaqua from
playing in the WNBA. Bevilaqua mentioned to Graf last week she had
Beard's number and negotiations went from there.

"I can't wait for her to get here," Graf said. "It will make things a
whole lot different against Bulleen this weekend."

WNBL: Canberra Capitals v Bulleen. AIS, Saturday night. Tip-off at
7:30pm