Neal Signs Contract to Play Professional Basketball in Sweden
by NMSU Athletics
LAS CRUCES – Former New Mexico State women’s basketball player Sherell Neal has signed a contract to play professionally next season with the Visby Ladies Basketball Club in Sweden.
Neal becomes just one of a handful of athletes to play professionally after their Aggie career and the first since Trecha Kennedy spent the 2006-07 season with the Norrkoping Dolphins in the same Damligan League that Neal will play in.
The 6-0 forward said she is looking forward to playing in another country because she has only been to Canada and that was over last Labor Day weekend when the Aggies went on a preseason exhibition tour. She heads over to Sweden in September and her season will start in October.
“I’m very excited for this opportunity,” Neal said. “I’ve always wanted to play overseas or in the WNBA and to be able to play in another country is great.”
“This is great for her because she has worked hard over her four years here,” New Mexico State head coach Darin Spence said. “She has prepared herself for this opportunity and it’s a great step up for her in her career and I hope she can take full advantage of it. It also brings great recognition to our program.”
Neal rounded out her four-year career with the Aggies by earning First Team All-WAC accolades at the end of her senior season in 2007-08. She averaged 14.1 points on 50.4 percent shooting from the field last season and she finished the year ranked No. 14 in the nation in rebounding at 10.2 rebounds per game.
She has written her name all over the Aggie record books. Her two greatest individual accomplishments include becoming the school’s all-time leader in blocked shots (126) and becoming just the third player in school history to have over 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
The Phoenix, Ariz. native averaged 11.9 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game in her career where she played in 121 games, which is tied for the third most ever by an Aggie. She ranks seventh all-time in scoring (1,436 points), second in rebounds (1,049), third in rebounding average (8.7), fifth in field goals attempted (1,265), sixth in field goals made (588), ninth in free throws attempted (368) and 10th in steals (216).
Neal was a 2006-07 Second Team All-WAC selection as a junior where she finished second in the WAC in scoring at 15.7 points per game and she ranked 12th nationally in rebounding at 10.8 boards per game. She was named to the 2007 WAC All-Tournament team and was a two-time selection on the league’s all-defensive team.
She scored in double figures in 80 games in her career, had 41 games with 15 or more points and nine 20-plus point games. She had 51 double-digit rebound games and had 10 games where she pulled down more than 15 rebounds. Neal recorded 41 double-doubles in her career.
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In other NMSU women’s basketball news, Trecha Kennedy is back with the Trinidad and Tobago National Basketball team training for the Olympic trials. Kennedy competed with her nation’s team in the 2007 Caribbean Basketball Championships.
Kennedy played just one season with the Aggies after transferring over from Cowley County Community College where she was an academic all-American. She led New Mexico State in scoring in 2004-05 at 10.5 points per game.
