And then there were Nine
The Glove From Baltimore: Ny’Ceara Pryor and the New York Liberty
Shout out to my man, Kevin “DJ Punisher” Young Jr for bringing this player to my attention. Kevin is doing great things at Rosedale Christian Academy and Team Melo. I have known him since he was a little kid, great to see how he has grown. Ny’Ceara is the second “lil mama” I have had the pleasure of watching play and coaching against the first being Shatyra Hawkes who is a part of the St Frances pipeline who played at Xavier University.
Ny’Ceara grew up in Baltimore. She went to Western High School. Before anyone was paying attention, she told college scouts she played like she was 6’4” in a 5’3” body, and that she had the heart to match.
She was not wrong.
Ny’Ceara Pryor is the active leader in career steals in collegiate basketball — 357 across fewer than 100 games, the only active player to accomplish that feat. As of this month, she is in training camp with the New York Liberty. A Baltimore girl at the highest level of the professional game. 12thMan.com
How she got here.
In her very first college season at Sacred Heart University, Pryor became the first player in both program and league history to simultaneously earn NEC Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. She was a freshman. That had never been done by anyone, anywhere in that conference. Sacred Heart University
She won NEC Player of the Year again as a sophomore. In her final season at Sacred Heart, she led the entire nation in steals per game at 4.1. After three years as one of the most decorated mid-major players in the country, she entered the transfer portal and landed at Texas A&M. 12thMan.com
She delivered there too. In 2025-26, Pryor averaged 16.1 points, 7.1 assists, and 3.6 steals per game, led the SEC in steals, and became the third player in conference history to record multiple steals in all 16 league games — doing it as the shortest player ever named to the SEC All-Defensive Team at 5’3”. 12thMan.com
She finished as the only player in Division I history to record 2,200 points, 550 assists, and 450 steals in a career, and was a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist. 12thMan.com
The Liberty.
Pryor went undrafted out of Texas A&M. The Liberty saw what the draft board missed. She signed a rookie scale contract with New York, with training camp opening April 19. She enters camp competing at point guard alongside Sabrina Ionescu on one of the most competitive rosters in the league. Threads + 2
The odds of making a final WNBA roster from a training camp contract are long. They have always been long. But Ny’Ceara Pryor has spent her entire career doing things that looked improbable on paper — leading the nation in steals from a mid-major program, making the SEC All-Defensive Team at 5’3”, setting records that had stood for decades.
She is in the building. She is a Baltimore City girl who built something remarkable, one steal at a time, in gyms most people never heard of.
We have been documenting Maryland women in professional basketball for years. Western High School belongs in that conversation. Ny’Ceara Pryor may be the most statistically extraordinary player to ever come through a Baltimore City gym.
The 2026 WNBA season starts this week. We will be watching.
— TKS
Coach Tully Sullivan, Chesapeake High School / Baltimore Lady Lions Coach Alexis Washington, Eastern Technical High School/ Baltimore Lady Lions Coach
Know a Maryland woman playing professional basketball we haven’t documented? Write to us at doagbc@gmail.com.
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