Courtesy of Grambling State Athletic Communications:
Former Grambling State University women’s basketball student-athlete Justice Coleman continued to add to head coach Freddie Murray‘s extensive resume as she recently signed to play professional basketball.
Coleman, who is the fifth all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,436 points, signed to play for the Liffey Celtics Basketball Club in Dublin, Ireland. She will depart and leave the United States between September 5-9 as she reports to camp.
“I worked out for a couple of teams over the past few months, but I ran into a couple of problems,” Coleman said. “You can’t sign a contract without a passport, so I had to wait on my passport to come. Once the passport arrived, the team, Liffey Celtics, really liked me. I decided to sign with them.”
Murray said he is excited Coleman has this opportunity.
“Justice has had an amazing career at Grambling,” Murray said. “We’re very proud of what she’s accomplished and we want to wish her the best of luck as she embarks on a new chapter.”
Coleman isn’t the first to make the trip overseas to play professionally. In fact, Murray is slowly building a solid core of players who are playing professional basketball.
Just a few years ago, former Grambling State women’s basketball player Shakyla Hill signed a deal with ZKK Kraljevo in Serbia, where all she did was win championships. Hill guided the team to the Milan Ciga Vasojevic Cup championship in 2020 and the Bashkimi women’s basketball team to a 2022 Super League Championship Cup in February.
Coleman said it feels great to have the opportunity to play professional basketball.
“I didn’t really see myself actually pursuing the next level,” she said. “I really didn’t know the opportunity would fall into my lap the way that it did. I put in a lot of work. I feel great about going into this situation and job because I worked hard the entire summer and I’m ready.”
Coleman had a stellar postseason tournament for Grambling State as the Lady Tigers fell in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Women’s Basketball Tournament Semifinals. She finished with a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds in a 62-54 win over Alabama A&M. The Baton Rouge, La., native added 12 points and four boards in a loss to Alabama State in the semifinals.
