| Growing up in a small steel mill town in western Pennsylvania, Alyson Westbrooks would accompany her father to his workplace at the University of Pittsburgh where she would practice her basketball skills on the UPitt hard-courts and imagine herself as a collegiate basketball star playing in front of the screaming Pittsburgh fans. Little did she know then where her steadfast practicing would take her.
Following a stellar high school career, Alyson enrolled on the Hilltop. The year was 1981 and Georgetown women's basketball was facing a major transition. After eleven years of winning records against local and Division III level competition, the start of Big East play brought tougher competition. In addition, the program had to adjust to three different head coaches in a four-year period. Recruited by one head coach, Alyson played for two other head coaches in her
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| years at Georgetown. While the team's win-loss record suffered a bit, Alyson stood tall among her teammates and displayed the heart of a champion.
As a freshman, the 6'1" frontcourt player first served notice by scoring 20 points against NCAA semi-finalist Maryland. In her second year, she led the team in both scoring and rebounding. Alyson gained a sweet sense of fulfillment that year, the inaugural Big East season. In the first round of the conference tournament, in front of those screaming Pitt fans, this burgeoning college basketball star pulled down ten rebounds in leading the Hoyas back from a 20-point deficit against Pittsburgh to a hard-fought 61-60 victory.
As a junior, Alyson dominated play in the Iona Tournament, scoring 37 points and collecting 26 rebounds over two games. Team captain in her final season, she ended her collegiate career tied for first at Georgetown in career field goal shooting percentage, second in career rebounding, third in career blocked shots, fourth in career scoring, and fifth in career free throw percentage. In each of her final three seasons, Alyson led the team in rebounding. The team, in her senior year, ended the season as the highest scoring team in Georgetown history.
Alyson was twice awarded the Coaches' Award as the team's most valuable player. As a senior, she earned Dean's List honors and graduated with a major in English and a minor in Fine Arts. Rejecting offers to play professionally, Alyson remained on the Hilltop first as an admissions officer and later as a coordinator in the Center for Minority Student Affairs. During this time, she began the study of law and graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1991.
Following a clerkship with the DC Superior Court, Alyson served as an attorney first with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and then with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She currently resides with her husband, Pierre Thomas in Alexandria, VA where she is writing a book.
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