Basketball has always been a part of Allie Quigley’s life. Her talents in the sport were evident Sunday night when ESPN televised a H-O-R-S-E tournament. Quigley advanced to the second round of the event by stunning Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Quigley will now face Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.

Who is Allie Quigley?

Allie Quigley grew up around sports and quickly grew to love basketball. She had her three siblings, two brothers and a sister, would always compete against each other. Quigley was born in Illinois on Junee 20, 1986 and played her high school basketball at Joliet Catholic Academy. In high school, she took part in the WBCA High School All-America Game.

Quigley went on to play college basketball at DePaul University from 2004-2008. As a freshman, Quigley contributed right away and shot better than 45 percent from 3-point range while averaging better than 14 points per game. In her four seasons with the Blue Demons, Quigley’s scoring average increased each season. In her sophomore year, she averaged 15.0 points per game and increased that to 15.9 in her junior year. By her senior year, Quigley, a 5-foot-10 guard, was averaging 19.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

Quigley was drafted by the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2008 but was cut before the season started. She signed on with the Phoenix Mercury that season and played two seasons before getting released. Quigley played sparingly with the San Antonio Stars, Indiana Fever and back with the Storm for the next two seasons before signing with the Chicago Sky, where she has played the last seven seasons.

Quigley gives credit to her late dad

When Allie Quigley was 7 years old, her father died of cancer. She said she doesn’t have a whole lot of vivid memories of him, but she knows he helped her get to where she is today.

Quigley said she went through some old photo albums and noticed her form when she was shooting jump shots looked just like that of her father’s. “I shot just like my dad. I mean, just like him,” she wrote in an article in The Players Tribune in 2018. “They said it was uncanny, right down to all of the little ways that I moved.

“And of course my dad, he hadn’t been around long enough to teach me how to shoot — so it was this wild, wild thing. It was almost like it was genetics or something. Like he had just passed it down to me, somehow….. passed down this one skill that had become so important to me, and that my dreams and future would eventually become so wrapped up in. It really was crazy: No matter the game situation, or the defense, or anything else — I’d plant my feet, rise up to shoot, and it was like….. I mean, you could take a picture. I looked just like my father.”

Quigley said the jump shot helps her think of her dad. when she shoots, she knows her father is with her. “And that really became this incredibly powerful idea to me — something that has stuck with me, still, to this day. Just, you know…. knowing how sad I always was, growing up, to not have better memories of my dad. But then also knowing what he left me with instead: this idea that anytime I shoot — it’s like I’m coloring in my dad’s mark on my world. Every time I shoot, it’s like I’m making another memory of him, brand new.”

Quigley defeats Chris Paul

In the first round of Sunday night’s H-O-R-S-E tournament televised on ESPN, Allie Quigley of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky faced Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The single-elimination tournament was being played virtually to help raise money for charities involved in the coronavirus response.

Quigley, a sharpshooter who won consecutive WNBA 3-point shooting contests, took no prisoners in this meeting with Paul. She led H-O-R-S to H before Paul mounted a mini-rally. Quigley, however, sent Paul packing when she banked home a free throw. Quigley now faces Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls on Thursday. LaVine knocked off Paul Pierce in the opener.

“It’s awesome that they’re doing this,” added Quigley. “In the time we’re in right now, I feel like it was kind of a no-brainer to have WNBA players in it, so I’m not, like, so shocked — that’s just how much progress we’ve made. Obviously, we have a lot more to go, but I feel like we’ll get there… It’ll be cool to give everyone at home something to watch finally on ESPN.”