Ashley Briggs ’15 Commits to St. Anselm College
Ashley Briggs has known for several months that she wanted to play for Gorham native Julie Plant but she made it official over dinner at an Irish restaurant in Manchester (NH) Friday night when she verbally committed to study and play basketball St. Anselm College.
One of the original Firecrackers, Briggs hit the game winning shot in the final seconds of the quarterfinals at Nationals in 2011 that kept the dream alive on the path to their division 2 National Championship run (still the only AAU D2 National Championship ever won by a Maine team). She has also been a standout for Scarborough High School, being named to the SMAA All-Rookie and Third Team as a Freshman, Second Team as a Sophomore, and both First Team and All Defensive Team her Junior year, when she was amongst the league leaders in scoring (13.4) assists (3.9), steals (3.4) and free throw percentage (77%).
St. Anselm’s is a member of the prestigious division II Northeast 10 conference. The academic reputation, location, campus, and opportunity to play for Coach Plant were all factors in Ashley’s decision.
In her first head coaching opportunity after a stint working as a scout for the WNBA NY Liberty, Coach Plant turned a 5-20 Regis College team in 2007 into an 18-8 team in 2008 and was honored as New England Conference Coach of the Year. In her last two seasons at Regis she guided her team to repeat 18-0 conference seasons. Once again at St. A’s she has worked her turnaround magic in her first season at the helm with a 15-12 record after inheriting a team that finished 1-21 the prior season. Plant played at USM for legendary coach Gary Fifield and was a key member of the 1998 and 2000 teams that were division 3 NCCA Championship finalists. She was inducted into New England basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
When asked about her interest in the versatile 5’8″ guard, Plant said she is impressed by how hard Briggs competes and especially how she loves to defend the opponents best player, noting “I love her defensive instincts and ability to take charges. Offensively she has good shooting range and her shot fake with one dribble pull up makes her tough to guard.”
Firecracker Coach Brian Clement added, “St. Anselm’s seems like an ideal fit for Ashley. Academically she is a very good student and on the court she is a unique competitor, a very fundamental player, and thinks like a coach on the floor. Her athleticism, skills, and leadership will translate well for her in college but best of all, she is such a tough kid, physically and mentally. I think Coach Plant is going to love coaching her.”
Briggs is the second Firecracker to verbally accept a scholarship in the past week after Victoria Lux committed to Bentley last week. Four other current members of the 16u (Clement) team have pending scholarship offers while two others are receiving significant interest as well.