Ameshya Williams-Holliday made history on April 11.
The Jackson State center was selected 25th overall by the Indiana Fever in the 2022 WNBA Draft. She became the first athlete in Jackson State history to get drafted into the WNBA and the first athlete from an HBCU to get drafted from an HBCU in 20 years.
“I just want to thank God,” Williams tweeted after she received the news. “It seems so unreal, but I did it, y’all.”
Williams has one of the most unique sports stories in the country. She was a star high school basketball player in the state of Mississippi before signing to continue her career at Mississippi State. MSU was one of the top women’s basketball programs in the nation at the time, as Williams was a freshman center on the famous team that upset UCONN at the buzzer in the 2017 national semifinals. Williams even played in the national championship game for the Bulldogs against A’Ja Wilson, coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina that year. As a sophomore, Williams began to enter Mississippi State’s rotation, but due to the stress of school and playing at a high-level program, she made the sudden decision to move back home to Gulfport, Mississippi, a few hours from MSU’s campus in Starkville, Mississippi.
The first in her family to attend college, as reported by Mia Berry, Williams was back in Gulfport trying to figure out different ways to make money. College coaches kept contacting her to join their programs, but she ignored them all- except one.
Tomekia Reed was the head coach at a Mississippi junior college and remained persistent when all the other coaches stopped reaching out to her. One day, Williams told Reed she got pregnant while back at home. Reed continued to pursue Williams, as she promised to get the young woman back in classes and help find assistance for watching her son, Jace. Williams’ mother often watched Jace, while at other times, Jace came to practice and sat with some of Jackson State’s coaching staff’s young children along the sideline.
Williams showed immediate signs of promise when she officially re-emerged on the court with a new Mississippi school and put up consistent double-doubles regardless of the competition. In the 2021 NCAA Tournament appearance against Baylor, Williams put up a double-double, but Reed expressed her disappointment in her team’s conditioning after the loss. Williams then returned to the court with a slimmer figure and continued to put up dominant numbers in her final season at JSU.
In a 66-62 loss to SEC-opponent Arkansas on Dec. 9, a now-married Williams-Holliday finished with 21 rebounds, 18 points and seven blocks. This time around at the NCAA Tournament, Jackson State gave LSU an upset-scare in a 83-77 loss. The Tigers held a double-digit lead over LSU within the final three minutes of the game, and LSU made a run once Williams-Holliday had to substitute out briefly with foul trouble.
Now a graduate and the most-decorated player in Jackson State women’s basketball history, the 6-foot-4 athlete who wanted to quit basketball now has the means to provide for her son and family as a professional athlete.
“Jace and [her husband] James, we did it!” Williams-Holliday tweeted after the draft.
