Ashley Paris (born September 21, 1987) is an American basketball player. She is the twin sister of former WNBA center

Courtney Paris Courtney Paris (born September 21, 1987) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is best known for her accomplishment ...

, who last played for the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

and is currently an assistant coach for the

Dallas Wings The Dallas Wings are an American professional basketball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Wings compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team is owned by a group ...

. She has been nationally recognized for her basketball achievements at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

. She was selected on April 9, 2009 with 22nd overall pick in the 2009 WNBA draft by the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

High school

Paris played for

Modesto Christian High School Modesto Christian School is a private Christian school in Salida, California, on the outskirts of Modesto. It was formerly affiliated with the Assemblies of God;Private school directory, 2013–14, updated August 6, 2014, downloadable aPriva ...

Modesto, California Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in Ca ...

and then transferred to Piedmont High School in

Piedmont, California Piedmont is a small city located in Alameda County, California, United States, enclaved by the city of Oakland. Its residential population was 11,270 at the 2020 census. The name comes from the region of Piedmont in Italy, and it means 'foothil ...

, where she was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2005 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored eight points.

College

On May 21, 2006, she was named a 2006 USA U20 National Team finalist. She chose the University of Oklahoma over such schools as Texas, UConn, Cal and Syracuse. Ashley and twin sister Courtney helped the Sooners go undefeated in the Big 12 during the 2005–2006 season, in which they went on to win the Big 12 Championship. In 2007 Ashley became a starter on the

Women’s Basketball team along with sister Courtney. That year she received

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

Honorable Mention as well as making the All-Big 12 Academic First Team. She was a communications major and graduated in Spring 2009.

Oklahoma statistics

Source

WNBA

Paris was drafted in the

WNBA draft The WNBA draft is an annual draft (sports), draft held by the Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and List of WNBA players, professional women's basketball p ...

with the 22nd overall pick in the second round, 14 spots after her twin sister

. Paris was drafted by the

. The Sparks announced that they decided to waive Paris on June 4, one day before the 11-man roster deadline on June 5. Although she was waived by the Sparks, she did manage to play in a preseason game. She wore the number 54 at the forward position. She scored 1 point which came at the free throw line. She played eight minutes for the Sparks in her only WNBA "game". In March 2010 she was signed to a training camp contract by the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

, and in March 2011 to a similar contract by the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Dream compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the ...

. On March 2, 2015 Paris signed a training camp contract by the

San Antonio Stars The San Antonio Stars were a professional basketball team based in San Antonio, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, as the Utah Starzz before th ...

.San Antonio Stars signed Toni Young, Ashley Paris and Brittany Chambers

Personal life

She is the twin sister of fellow WNBA player

. The twins are the daughters of Lynne Gray and former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

player William "Bubba" Paris. She also has four brothers named Wayne, David, Austin, and Brandon and two half-brothers (Bubba's sons) William III and Christian.

References

External links

USA Basketball Bio: Ashley ParisScout.com: All articles relevant to Ashley Paris

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris, Ashley 1987 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in China American women's basketball players Basketball players from San Jose, California Los Angeles Sparks draft picks McDonald's High School All-Americans Oklahoma Sooners women's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Sportspeople from Piedmont, California Basketball players from Alameda County, California Power forwards Shandong Six Stars players American twins Modesto Christian School alumni