Beard Brings Flash & Style to Thunderducks Women's Basketball
DALLAS – Paris Beard was all blushed up, sporting a beaming glow before a Saturday matinee game.
Makeup and basketball? Does that make sense?
"I just feel like it's part of my game," Beard said, brandishing a smile that mirrors her basketball skills. "I feel like I'm not on track if I don't have makeup on, eyelashes on, my nails done, all that."
A 5-foot-5 freshman guard from Mount Pleasant, Texas, Beard has been all flash in the first month of the season at Dallas College Richland. And we're not just talking about the cosmopolitan side to her.
"I feel like it's most of them," first-year Thunderducks head coach Troy Thrasher said, laughing. "I've been doing women's basketball for 20 of my 31 years doing it. It never changes. They've got to have a certain look about 'em before they come out and play. The hair's got to be right. The makeup's got to be on sometimes. It still makes me laugh and smile a little bit.
"She's not ever trying to stand out, but her play is what makes her stand out. But like most players, they want to look good doing it."
Beard has looked good on the court to begin her junior college career. She was named the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Player of the Week Nov. 22, following a week in which she broke school records for points in a game (41), made field goals in a game (16) and steals in a game (8). She averaged 29.5 points, seven rebounds and four steals that week as the Thunderducks picked up their first win of the season. Three days later, the T'ducks knocked off No. 10 Dallas College Mountain View, 57-51, in a game Beard scored 27 points on 12 of 14 shooting, and had three steals.
"I just got to come in the game being confident, not playing scared," Beard said. "I never know what I'm going against or who's watching, so I got to help my team win now. We started off bad. It was like, 'Dang, we've got to score more points to beat people.' So, I just put my mind to stuff like that, and I just made it happen."
She's been making it happen all right.
Beard, a B student who helps facilitate study hall sessions, wants to pursue a nursing career. She is averaging 21.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game entering Wednesday's 5:30 p.m. road tilt at Eastern Oklahoma State College. She's scored in double figures in every game but one, topping 20 in four of the eight the Thunderducks have suited up.
Richland won one game last season. This year, the Thunderducks already have three wins.
"She's kind of got that effect on people," sophomore forward Logan Ross said. "It has that effect on our team."
"The thing about Paris is she's a good scorer herself, she's got the midrange shot, she can get to the rim a little bit, but the best thing about her is she gets everyone else involved in our offense," Thrasher said. "She's a fun player to watch. If that ball is loose, she's going to dive on it. She plays basketball the way it's supposed to be played. That's what I love about her most is she gets after it."
Reeling Her In
After Athletic Director Lynn Nabi, who coached against Beard at the high school level in Jacksonville, Texas, initially reached out to her, Thrasher made a pitch of his own. According to Thrasher, Beard had not decided completely after Richland's athletic director, who was shocked she was still unsigned, made the first contact. Thrasher brought her high school coach into the picture, selling Beard on the idea Richland could provide the best fit to bring her more exposure to move on to a four-year level. Between him, Nabi and her high school coach, eventually she locked in with Richland.
"I came to Richland because I feel like it was a better atmosphere than other schools," Beard said. "I felt like this is like Mount Pleasant, where I was used to already. Coach Nabi, we played against him in a playoff game, and he knew my game and my coach, so it was just better to connect easier."
Ross is the lone holdover from last year's roster. She's seen the difference a player like Beard has had on the team, but is also quick to point out there are complimentary pieces throughout this Thunderducks team that have fortified a roster marred in losses a year earlier.
"She can really help elevate this program," Thrasher said prior to one of eight Saturday games on the schedule. "Some of our girls, as we're seven games into this, they're adapting to their roles a little bit. They understand once she gets going, that helps them get going. She's just one of those players that just involves everyone. That's how we're going to try to keep this thing going a little bit."
When Beard went off for 41 points in the 89-66 victory over Arlington Baptist University's Red Team, it didn't initially register with the Thunderducks they were witnessing history unfold. They knew she was putting the ball in the basket a bunch, but not to the tune of record-breaking proportion.