After a distinguished career in Blacksburg, the former Virginia Tech women’s basketball player Aisha Sheppard Earlier this week, the first hockey player to earn a trip to the WNBA Finals made even more history at the professional level after helping the Las Vegas Aces win the Western Conference crown.
The Aces defeated the Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm on their way to the 2022 WNBA Finals, and the Chicago Sky-Connecticut Sun series awaits the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals.
The best-of-five series in the WNBA Finals airs this Sunday, September 11 in Las Vegas on ABC at 3 p.m.
The top pick out of Virginia Tech, Shepard was taken with the 23rd overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft. She played in 23 of the Aces’ 36 regular season games, averaging 7.6 minutes and 1.5 points per game and supporting perhaps the most dynamic backcourt in the league. The Aces’ three starting guards, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, have all won Olympic gold medals.
Sheppard, the program’s all-time leader in games played and points scored, became the first Virginia Tech student-athlete to be named All-ACC three times. She was also named to the ACC All-Tournament Team in 2022 in Greensboro and was a two-time ACC All-Academic Team selection.
The Alexandria, Virginia native set her own single-season 3-point mark and the ACC career 3FG record with 96 triples in 2021-22.
She finished as the ACC all-time leader in 3-pointers made with 402, tied for the top 3 single-season marks by Tech in that category. Shepard earned Honorable Mention All-American honors in 2021 and was recognized as the 2021 Skelton Award recipient for academic excellence in athletics.
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