Ashley Walker (basketball)

She was born Ashley Jeneen Walker on February 24, 1987, in Stockton, California. Walker is the daughter of Tiran and Jackie Walker. She has an older brother, Tiran Jr., who plays basketball in England. Her relative James Hardy played basketball for the New Orleans/Utah Jazz of the NBA. She was an American Studies major at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ashley attended Grace M. Davis High School in Modesto, California. She was named to the Cal-Hi Sports all-state team and league MVP as a senior after averaging 21 points, 20 rebounds, five assists and six blocks per game at Grace Davis. Walker also competed on the varsity volleyball team for four years and the track and field team for one year. She claimed the 2004 conference high jump title and was picked to the all-conference volleyball team three times.[1]

Walker attended the University of California. She played four seasons with the Bears of Cal. She played the forward position and the center position. Walker was the only player in Cal history to score at least 1,000 points, 800 rebounds, 200 assists, and 100 blocks. She recorded 47 career double-doubles. She is ranked first in Cal history for rebounds, free-throws made, and free-throws attempted.

As a freshman, she was one of three Cal players picked to the Pac-10 All-Freshman squad, marking the first time a conference team had more than two selections. As a sophomore Walker was selected to the All-Pac-10 team along with Devanei Hampton, marking only the second time in school history that the Bears placed two players on the All-Pac-10 squad. When she became a junior she became one of only four Cal players to garner first-team All-Pac-10 honors at least twice. She was named to the Pac-10 All-Defensive team and Sports Illustrated second-team All-American. As a junior, she became the 17th Cal player to reach the 1,000-point milestone. As a senior at Cal she was the 2008–09 Pac-10 scoring leader averaging 19.8 points per game. She was named to the First team All-Pac-10 and First team Pac-10 All-Defensive team.[2]

Walker declared for the WNBA draft after 4 seasons at the University of California. She was selected 12th overall in the 2009 WNBA draft by the Seattle Storm.[3] She joined WNBA veterans Sue Bird, Swin Cash, and Lauren Jackson. Seattle waived Ashley during the start of the 2010 season. She would then sign with the Tulsa Shock, but was later waived by them as well. In February 2011 she was signed to a training camp contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars for the upcoming season, but would be waived. She signed with the Washington Mystics for the 2012 season. Then, after a short period in Romania, she joined the Connecticut Sun in 2013. In February 2019, Walker signed with the Los Angeles Sparks.[4] She scored 28 points and eight rebounds in two games before being cut in training camp. Walker returned to the Sparks roster in June 2019 as a result of an injury hardship exception.[5] In her regular season debut with the Sparks on June 6, Walker posted two points, two rebounds, three assists, and one steal in a loss to the Connecticut Sun.[6]

Walker signed to play with Maccabi Ashdod in Israel for the 2009–2010 off-season.[7] She would go on to take the league MVP honor after her season there, as her team was runner-up in the Israeli league finals. For the 2010–2011 season she would go back to Israel to play for Maccabi Ramat Hen. Prior to going back to Israel in 2010 she played in the Ukraine for Dynamo NPU. For the 2011-2012 WNBA off-season she would go to Turkey to play for Ceyhan Belediyespor. In 2013, she signed for CSM Târgovişte in Romania.

• Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com  and Basketball-Reference.com 
• California Golden Bears bio