Former Morehead State women's basketball standout Almesha Jones has signed a contract to play for the Peli-Karhut professional club in Kotka, Finland.
Peli-Karhut competes at the highlest level in the Finnish Championship circuit. Kotka, with a population of 54,525 in 2015, is located in the southeast corner of the country on the Gulf of Finland. It is situated one hour and thirty minutes from the capital of Helsinki. Ironically for Jones, the word Kotka is translated as "Eagle" from Finnish to English.
"I am very excited for Almesha's opportunity to play professionally," said head coach Greg Todd, who mentored Jones her senior season. "I felt like her senior year she was one of the most valuable players in the OVC. She made some big shots for us and helped a team picked 12th to finish sixth. She made a good mark on MSU women's basketball. If you look through the record book, it is full of A. Jones. I was honored to be a small part of her success and wish her nothing but the best. I feel like she could have a long and successful professional career."
Jones, who competed for Morehead State from 2012-15, is the career assist leader with 589 and ranks second with 250 career steals. She also ranks 13th in career scoring with 1,443 points and is also on the top-10 list in several other career categories, including games played (5th - 117), free throws made (6th - 338) and three-pointers made (7th - 155).
She was named First-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference as a senior in 2014-15 when she averaged 17.8 points and ranked second in the nation in assists with an MSU single-season record 246. She tied the school single-game record with 16 helpers against Brescia (Ky.) that season as well.
Jones was named to the prestigious Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List, honoring the nation's best point guard, as she scored 20 points 12 times in 2014-15 and had five double-doubles.
