DAVID HUNTER, Post Contributor
Posted: Sunday, April 4, 2010 12:00 am

Alysha Clark drives tothe goal with two Lady Vols trailing her at the MTSU versus UT game earlier this season. TMP/ M. Willard

Former Blue Raider women’s basketball star Alysha Clark will personally find out the next step in her career at Thursday’s 2010 WNBA Draft in Secaucus, N.J.

Clark is one of 14 future WNBA rookies selected to attend the event. Past women’s basketball coach and current ESPN analyst, Carolyn Peck believes she has a chance to be picked very high in the draft.

“I think that Alysha Clark has an opportunity to probably be taken in the first round,” Peck said during Wednesday’s conference call. “When you lead the nation in scoring, you have a tendency to attract some attention.”

This past season, Clark broke the Sun Belt Conference and school scoring record by averaging 28.3 points per game. She also led the nation in scoring for the second consecutive year. The performance earned her three postseason All-American honors, including being selected to the Associated Press Second Team. The Blue Raiders finished the season with a 25-6 record, but lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Mississippi State.

Fellow ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo also raves about Clark’s ability, but also added her lack of size might have her play a different position at the next level.

“She is a talented player,” Lobo said during the same conference call. “I think the question is her size. She’s 5 feet, 10 inches and she’s been playing in the post and in the WNBA, 5’10’’ is too small to play in the post. She has shown a face-up game, but that’s where the transition is going to have to happen to her. She’s going to have to play the three position and whether it’s playing a three that can post-up, but she’s going to have to be a three that can guard on the perimeter, that can make three-point shots consistently and have that face-up game. But she’s such a talented player. I don’t imagine she would go any later that the first round. But, she’s an interesting prospect just because she going to have to change positions in the WNBA.”

This year’s draft is broken into three rounds with the Connecticut Sun having the first pick. The first round will be televised on ESPN, while the second and third round broadcast will transfer to ESPNU and NBA TV.

The last Lady Raider to attend the draft, Amber Holt was selected ninth by the same franchise in 2008. Fellow MTSU player Chrissy Givens was picked 31st in 2007 by the Phoenix Mercury.