Player Profile: Ann Strother

DREAM PLAYER PROFILE: ANN STROTHER

Ann Strother is a familiar face to women’s basketball fans across the nation. After all, the 6-3 guard has literally grown up in front of the basketball world. In 2001, Strother was named to the USA Junior World Championship Team, an honor for any upcoming talent. The kicker? Strother was still in high school at Highlands Ranch High School in Colorado. While being thrust into the spotlight at such a young age is quite a bit of pressure for a teenager, Strother handled the attention with ease. She went on to attend the University of Connecticut where she teamed with Diana Taurasi to lead the Huskies to two national titles. Strother played in all 143 games of her collegiate career and started all but one. By the time she left Connecticut, Strother was the seventh leading scorer in school history (1,699) and second all-time leader in career three point field goals (290). Equally focused in the classroom, Strother was a Dean’s List student all four years of college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Originally selected by the Houston Comets in the second round of the 2006 WNBA Draft, Strother was immediately traded to the Phoenix Mercury, where she spent her rookie season in the league learning from the Mercury’s veteran backcourt players. Strother played for the Indiana Fever last season, where she asserted herself as a perimeter threat, hitting 40% of her three-point attempts. During the 2008 WNBA Expansion Draft, Coach Meadors selected Strother from the Fever to add size and an outside scoring threat at the guard position. Strother is the type of player who makes her teammates better by forcing them to match her own tireless work ethic and by motivating them with her forever optimistic attitude. Her only visit to Atlanta having been during the 2003 Final Four en route to a NCAA championship, Strother had fond memories of the city and was excited for the new opportunity with the Dream. This past year, Strother approached the game from a new perspective, serving as the Director of Basketball Operations at the University of Colorado. While Strother valued the professional experience, she has decided not to return to the position and instead plans to compete overseas this offseason. She has not ruled out the possibility of coaching down the road, but Strother says it has always been her desire to work with children and is considering going back to school to become a physician’s assistant after she finishes her basketball career. Off the court, Strother is one of the most active players in the community. Last year, she founded Outward Bounce, a non-profit organization that uses basketball to foster relationships with youth and their communities in impoverished areas around the world. The organization’s current project is to raise money to build a basketball court in the small Costa Rican village of Colonia Libertad. At the age of 24, Strother has already had a lifetime worth of experiences. Still, not much has changed since Strother first burst onto the USA basketball scene as a teenage globetrotter. Only now as she travels the world, Strother brings the sport with her, to share with others what the game has given her.