A native of Chicagoland is getting her opportunityto build a women’s college basketball team near her hometown.
Ashleen Bracey is currently in her fourth season as the head coach at UIC, continuing a basketball journey that began in her hometown of Oak Park.
She’s taken on the task of building the Flames women’s basketball program, which is in pursuit of consistent success and their first NCAA Tournament appearance.
A standout player at Oak Park-River Forest High School, Bracey was a three-time Missouri Valley Conference champion with Illinois State. While her love of playing basketball took her to Greece professionally for a season, it was coaching that would become her career calling.
Inspired by her college leader Robin Pingeton, Bracey started her career as a graduate assistant for her at Missouri. She’s coach at Ball State, UAB, and then again at Missouri before being named the head coach of UIC in 2022.
Since then, Bracey has steadily built up the program, appearing in postseason tournaments in 2023 and 2024. She’s taken the “step-at-a-time” philosophy as she recruits the Chicago area hard to grow the Flames program.
Ashleen is the latest person to be spotlighted in Ankin Law’s “Chicagoans You Should Know” series. You can watch her profile in the video.
