4/29/2024 6:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MACON – Mercer women's basketball head coach Michelle Clark-Heard continued to add depth to her 2024-25 roster on Monday when Incarnate Word transfer Aliyah Collins announced her intentions to continue her academic and athletic career with the Bears.
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Collins makes the trip to Middle Georgia from San Antonio, Texas, where she has played an integral part of the success of Incarnate Word for the last two seasons. She was one of two student-athletes to rake in All-Southland Conference laurels for the Cardinals at the conclusion of the 2023-24 campaign.
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"We are thrilled to add Aliyah to the Bears family," Clark-Heard said. "She is a high-energy point guard that has proven that she can score with the basketball. Her desire to grow as a player, as well as a person, won our coaching staff over immediately. Aliyah is a tremendous communicator that will set a tone for our team from the point guard position, and her quickness and speed will create problems for others on both ends of the floor. I can't wait to coach her."
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A product of College Station, Texas, Collins averaged a team-best 12.2 points, 2.5 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals an outing last season as UIW registered a 19-11 mark and a fourth-place finish in the final SLC regular season standings. While playing the sixth woman role (27 games played, 5 starts) for the Cardinals, she canned 38.8 percent of her field goal attempts, including a 30-for-99 (.303) clip from the perimeter, and tallied double-figure scoring numbers 18 times, including a trio of 20+-point performances.
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A 78 percent shooter from the free throw line, Collins also registered a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio, and recorded three or more assists 11 times.
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Collins played in 28 games as a rookie in San Antonio, and turned in 7.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals an outing in 19.8 minutes per game on the floor. She scored 10 or more points nine times as a freshman, while also canning 80.8 percent of her free throw attempts.Â
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Collins makes the trip to Middle Georgia from San Antonio, Texas, where she has played an integral part of the success of Incarnate Word for the last two seasons. She was one of two student-athletes to rake in All-Southland Conference laurels for the Cardinals at the conclusion of the 2023-24 campaign.
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"We are thrilled to add Aliyah to the Bears family," Clark-Heard said. "She is a high-energy point guard that has proven that she can score with the basketball. Her desire to grow as a player, as well as a person, won our coaching staff over immediately. Aliyah is a tremendous communicator that will set a tone for our team from the point guard position, and her quickness and speed will create problems for others on both ends of the floor. I can't wait to coach her."
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A product of College Station, Texas, Collins averaged a team-best 12.2 points, 2.5 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals an outing last season as UIW registered a 19-11 mark and a fourth-place finish in the final SLC regular season standings. While playing the sixth woman role (27 games played, 5 starts) for the Cardinals, she canned 38.8 percent of her field goal attempts, including a 30-for-99 (.303) clip from the perimeter, and tallied double-figure scoring numbers 18 times, including a trio of 20+-point performances.
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A 78 percent shooter from the free throw line, Collins also registered a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio, and recorded three or more assists 11 times.
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Collins played in 28 games as a rookie in San Antonio, and turned in 7.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals an outing in 19.8 minutes per game on the floor. She scored 10 or more points nine times as a freshman, while also canning 80.8 percent of her free throw attempts.Â
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