COLUMBIA, S.C. – A pair of former Benedict College standout basketball players recently completed their rookie professional seasons with major accomplishments.
After winning back-to-back SIAC championships in her final two full college basketball seasons,
Ay'Anna Bey wouldn't settle for anything less than another championship in her rookie professional career in Germany.
Tajh Green took his high-flying skills to England and soared to become one of the top scorers and rebounders in the league.
Bey helped lead the Avides Hurricanes in Scheeßel (pronounced Shee-sill), Germany to the German second division women's basketball championship recently and has now returned home to the United States for the summer.
"It was really good. For my first time overseas, I really didn't know what to expect. But I really enjoyed myself," Bey said. "The culture, of course, was a little different than what I was used to, but in a good way. All my teammates were really welcoming and nice. It was really fun to work with them this season."
Green played for the Manchester Giants in the British Basketball League, and finished second in the league in scoring and first in rebounding. The Giants wrapped up their season recently with a 17-19 record.
Bey's Hurricanes team started off the season slow, but started playing better in the middle of the season as the team started to come together.
"We definitely started off a little rough and lost a lot of games in the beginning. Once in the middle of the season, once we learned what everyone on our team could do and the potential everyone had, we started to work together better and we became close as a team and that helped us win more games," Bey said. "Something clicked in the middle of the season where we became one and started to play for each other. That's what definitely helped us win the championship because we wanted to win for each other."
Her professional schedule included one game a week and three days of practice. On her off days, she would work out on her own or traveled.
"I went to Brussells (in Belgium), I went to Amsterdam (in Netherlands), and I went to other parts of Germany, like the northern part and southern part. Other than that, we were in a small town called Scheeßel, so we spent most of our time there, relaxing, working out and practicing."
Scheeßel is located in the northern part of Germany, between bigger cities Hamburg and Bremen, which were short train rides away.
"There was not much of anything to do in our little town. The good thing is we were about an hour from a bigger city, Hamburg, and an hour from another city, Bremen. Scheeßel is a really small town, but I really liked how small it was, because anytime I went to the store or anything like that, I was always running into a fan," Bey said. "It was really cute. Even the little kids would be like, 'You play for Avides,' and I'd say 'Yeah.' They would always take pictures with me and the other American. It was really cool staying in a small town, because it was really personable. It was kind of like how it was at Benedict, where everybody knew everybody."
Despite her first time overseas and not knowing the language, Bey said all of her teammates spoke English and would help translating. There was one other American on the team. The only time she had trouble was if she was in a store by herself.
On the court, she also had some adjustments. She said she started the season slow, but her coach kept encouraging her to play her game. By the end of the season, she averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds per game.
"I got more comfortable with the team, I got more comfortable with the coaching staff," Bey said. "Our coach Chris (Christian Greve) would tell me before the game, 'go out and play basketball. You are the only one doubting yourself.' I definitely got more confident in myself as the season progressed."
After winning back-to-back SIAC titles, Bey was used to winning championships. But it was still exciting for Bey to win another championship.
"It was amazing. Coming from a winning program and winning a championship in college, you want to continue that," Bey said. "Of course it's harder when you play professionally because there's so many great athletes. To go overseas and win it in my first year was really surreal. The season started off rocky, so we all had our doubts. But by the middle of the season we were like, 'We can really win this whole thing if we just get it together.' And we did it. And it was a good feeling."
After a successful rookie season, Bey is not sure what next season will hold. She said her agent told her to take some time off and relax and they would look at options for next season.
Another Benedict alum having a successful professional rookie season was
Tajh Green. Green played with the Manchester Giants of the British Basketball League in Manchester, England . He finished the season second in the BBL in scoring, averaging 18.4 points per game and led the BBL in rebounding at 9.2 per game. He had 16 double-doubles, including a 32-point, 10-rebound performance against the Bristol Flyers on March 15.
