Alisa Marzatte Burras (born June 23, 1975) is a former professional women's basketball player. She was born and raised in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and played for Westark Community College in Fort Smith,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

from 1994 to 1996 and helped lead the Lady Lions to the 1995 JUCO National Championship. She left Westark with school records for points (1481), rebounds (534), and blocks (121). Legendary coach

Leon Barmore William Leon Barmore (born June 3, 1944) is a college women's basketball coach best known for his 35-year association with the Louisiana Tech University Lady Techsters. After five years as an assistant coach, he served as head coach from 1982 to ...

offered Burras a scholarship to play for

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research acti ...

, and she played with the Lady Techsters from 1996 to 1998. Burras led LA Tech to the NCAA Championship Game in 1998 but lost to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

93–74. In the championship game, she posted 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Techsters. During her two seasons at LA Tech, the Lady Techsters compiled a 62–8 record. Burras was drafted in the first round (fifth overall) by the

Colorado Xplosion The Colorado Xplosion was the first women's professional basketball franchise in Colorado, an American Basketball League (ABL) team based in Denver. Playing from 1996 through 1998, the team produced many memorable moments for Colorado sports fan ...

in the 1998 ABL Draft. When the ABL folded, she was signed by the WNBA and allocated to the

Cleveland Rockers The Cleveland Rockers were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Cleveland, that played from 1997 until 2003. The Rockers were one of the original eight franchises of the WNBA, which started in 1997. The owner was Gordon Gu ...

on May 11, 1999. After the 1999 season, Burras was selected in the first round (fourth overall) of the December 1999 WNBA Expansion Draft by the

Portland Fire The Portland Fire were a professional basketball team in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) based in Portland, Oregon that joined the league in 2000 as the counterpart to the National Basketball Association, NBA’s Portland Trail B ...

. She played for the Fire for 3 seasons until the franchise folded and was then selected in the first round (ninth overall) of the 2003 WNBA Dispersal Draft by the Seattle Storm. Burras retired after the 2003 season.

Honors

* University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Hall of Fame (2011)

References

External links

* * 1975 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Arkansas–Fort Smith Lady Lions basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Centers (basketball) Cleveland Rockers players Colorado Xplosion players Junior college women's basketball players in the United States Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball players Portland Fire players Seattle Storm players 21st-century American women {{US-women-basketball-bio-stub