Alyssa Fisher Brings Grit and Family Experience to Loyola

Alyssa Fisher, graduate guard for the Loyola women’s basketball team, has added her veteran knowledge to the team, helping lead the Ramblers to a record of 11-8 and going 5-3 in the Atlantic 10 — four more wins than the team had last year. 

College basketball has been a consistent presence in Fisher’s life. Her older sister played for the University of Central Arkansas and both of her parents played at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In sixth grade, Fisher was influenced by her family and stopped playing soccer to switch to basketball. 

“I finally decided to try basketball after watching my sister for a lot of years and my parents as well,” Fisher said. “I tried it in sixth grade. I was pretty good at it, so I stuck with it.” 

Fisher played throughout high school at Louisiana State University Laboratory High School, even getting the opportunity to play with her then-senior sister. Fisher said high school is where she learned the importance of confidence on the court.

When her senior year rolled around, Fisher decided to continue on with basketball, even though people doubted she could make it. 

“I felt like coming out of high school, I was a smaller guard,” Fisher said. “Not a lot of people thought I would go on to play college, I feel like. It’s competitiveness and wanting to kind of like prove people wrong and show I could play at the collegiate level but I also kind of want to follow in like my parents and like my sister’s footsteps and kind of keep the tradition going.” 

Fisher was scouted by multiple local schools but wanted to grow as an individual, which meant leaving home. She committed to play at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, which she said is very different compared to her hometown of Baton Rouge. 

In her time at St. Francis, Fisher totaled 1,056 points, becoming the first in program history to surpass the 1,000 point accomplishment. She also started in 88 of the 99 games she played, averaging 30.3 minutes per game. She set her career high of 30 points in a win against Wagner College in February 2023. 

All seemed to be going well for Fisher, who wanted to continue playing at St. Francis to finish out her eligibility until an announcement from St. Francis’ athletic department changed everything. 

On March 20, St. Francis’ Director of Athletics, Irma Garcia announced they would be eliminating all of their Division I intercollegiate athletics after the 2022-23 season, due to the financial impact COVID-19 had on the college. Saddened and shocked by the news, Fisher was left to figure out the next chapter of her life. 

“I didn’t really know what I was going to do,” Fisher said. “I had a fifth year and I didn’t know if I was going to take it, I didn’t know if I was going to go back to St. Francis or if I’m going to transfer.”

Fisher took the cancellation of athletics at St. Francis as a sign to branch out once again and finish her last year of basketball at a different school. 

The most hectic part came when she entered the transfer portal to find her new school. Fisher said multiple schools reached out and wanted her on their team, leading her to spend much of her last moments at St. Francis on the phone with different coaches.

Fisher made sure she would transfer to a school that looked at her as more than an athlete, and said she found just what she was looking for with Loyola and head coach Allison Guth. 

“I really loved how Coach Guth was relationship-based,” she said. “I think our first phone call we didn’t even talk about basketball. She kind of just wanted to know more about me and my journey, and I thought that was really important.” 

After a campus tour and multiple phone calls with Guth, Fisher couldn’t get Loyola out of her head. Loyola Athletics officially announced Fisher as an addition to the lineup July 18, along with three other transfers. 

Ever since then, Guth said Fisher has made an outstanding impact on and off the court by continuing the sisterhood she emphasizes in practices and games and communicating with every team member. 

“The team was talking about her the other day, and she’s an incredible friend,” Guth said. “She’s an incredible teammate. She’s willing to do things necessary to be successful. She believes in what we’re doing.” 

Since her arrival in Rogers Park, Fisher has become the highest scorer on the team with a total of 267 points, averaging 13.4 per game. She has come close to her all-time career high twice against Saint Louis University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with 28 and 26 points, respectively. She also leads the team in 3-pointers with 34, 65 made free-throws and 27 steals. 

Guth said Fisher immediately proved herself to the program off the stat sheet. She said Fisher can put up big numbers in the box score, but watching her play is another experience. 

“You got to, like, watch the way she scores, the way she maneuvers around defenses,” Guth said. “I love the way she could convert from three, hit a mid-range pull up and be effective at the rim.” 

Fisher lives with fellow women’s basketball transfer, fourth-year guard Thoranna Kika Hodge-Carr, who described her as an amazing teammate and said she focuses on self-care and taking care of herself outside of the sport. 

At Loyola, Fisher is working to get her master’s degree in business and said she loves living in Chicago and having the best of both worlds with Loyola’s two campuses — but she does miss Baton Rouge, especially with Mardi Gras approaching. 

Fisher can next be seen with the Ramblers Wednesday, Jan. 31 as they take on the Hawks of Saint Joseph’s University in Gentile Arena. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+. 

Featured image by Holden Green | The Loyola Phoenix