Former WNBA player graduating from WSU Boonshoft School of Medicine

Alison Bales, former WNBA player and WSU medical school graduate.

Alison Bales, former WNBA player and WSU medical school graduate.

A retired WNBA player will graduate Friday from Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine.

Alison Bales has earned her medical degree from Wright State after having played professional basketball for five years. Her mother, Mary McCarthy, is the chair of the department of surgery at the Boonshoft School of Medicine.

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Bales grew up playing for the Beavercreek Stars youth basketball organization and won two state championships playing for Beavercreek High School.

She eventually earned a full scholarship to play at Duke University where she double majored in biological anthropology and anatomy and cultural anthropology, according to WSU.

In 2007, Bales was selected ninth overall in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. She also played for the Atlanta Dream and helped the team advance to the WNBA finals in 2010 and 2011, according to WSU.

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During the off-season, Bales played in Russia, Turkey and France. Bales will begin a residency in general surgery this summer at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, almost 10 years after being drafted there in 2007.

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