WNBA scouts and a four-time WNBA Finals MVP gathered at H.O. Clemmons Arena on Tuesday to see the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball team.
First-year UAPB Coach Erica Leak, a 2005 Washington Mystics draft selection, used her WNBA connections to organize a pro day for her team, giving them a chance to showcase their talents for professional scouts.
“It’s all about having a vision and what you want your program to be like,” Leak said. “I have an opportunity to do something that is groundbreaking, that’s never been done before, and so why not now? … It’s important for our girls to know, our players to know that anything you want to become, you can become right here at UAPB. We’re going to bring the scouts to you.”
This was the first event of its kind at UAPB, but Leak intends to turn it into an annual tradition.
Before practice began, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Cynthia Cooper spoke to the Lady Lions.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Cooper, a Chicago native who played collegiately for Southern California, signed with the Houston Comets ahead of the WNBA’s inaugural 1997 season after beginning her pro career overseas.
The Comets won each of the league’s first four championships, and Cooper was named Finals MVP each time. She was also a two-time regular season MVP, three-time all-star and scoring champion, and four-time All-WNBA First Team selection.
She went on to coach the Phoenix Mercury for two seasons before playing one last season with the Comets in 2003. Her No. 14 jersey was retired by the Comets, while USC retired her No. 44.
Cooper said as part of the inaugural WNBA championship team, it was only right for her to be part of UAPB’s inaugural pro day.
“For me to come here, it was really just to open the door for these young ladies,” Cooper said. “To let them know that they can really be anything they want to be and play on whatever level they want to play on. But it takes that hard work and that passion and that determination every single day.”
Prairie View A&M brought Cooper to the SWAC as the Lady Panthers’ coach from 2005-2010. She also coached at UNC Wilmington and her alma mater, USC, with two stints at Texas Southern, most recently from 2019-2022.
She said for SWAC athletes to get an opportunity in the WNBA, they must play at a level which brings exposure.
“I think you do that by being consistent,” Cooper said. “A consistent shooter, consistent slasher to the basket, consistent great defender, a great teammate. Everybody wants a glue player that brings everybody together, and so, I think you separating yourself with your skillset really allows you to be seen and noticed by the WNBA teams.”
After Cooper spoke and fielded questions from the players, the team broke out into practice, running through various drills before finishing with an intrasquad scrimmage.
UAPB’s roster is filled with new players after most of last year’s team either graduated or transferred following previous coach Dawn Thornton’s departure.
One of those players, junior guard D’arrah Allen, said she learned a lot from Cooper’s talk.
“Me growing up from California and Los Angeles, and her being from my area, it just gives me hope that, through working hard and work ethic, I can get anywhere I need to be,” Allen said. “One thing that I gained from that conversation that she had was never fear failure, because you’re going to be a failure if you fear it. Just take it on. Everybody’s going to fail. Just do what you have to do, and eventually, your hard work is going to pay off.”
WNBA scouts first started to take notice of UAPB last season when current Alabama guard Zaay Green was playing for the Lady Lions, but Clemmons Arena hadn’t held an event of this magnitude until Tuesday.
Leak said she hopes to see this event grow in the future and may even invite other SWAC teams to participate, though she wants to keep it at UAPB.
Although top athletes typically go to Power Five schools as a path to the pros, Leak said her pitch to recruits will be her ability to bring the scouts to them.
“Anything you want to be, when it comes to this basketball, you can get it done right here at UAPB,” Leak said. “Dear Mother, on the Yard, right here, it can happen for you. You go to the fieldhouse, look at the wall of fame. We have players in the NFL right now from this historic HBCU. It can happen for our women’s basketball program, as well, and it will happen.”