Former Lady Hilltopper and WNBA, turned SKYPAC CFO Shea Mahoney shares her story
BOWLINNG GREEN, Ky. – Shea Mahoney is a former Western Kentucky University women’s basketball player.
Mahoney tallied more than 1,000 career points and grabbed over 600 rebounds from 1995-1999 on the Hill before taking her talents to the WNBA and playing professionally overseas.
Reflecting on her collegiate career Mahoney credits the environment at WKU for preparing her for her professional career.
“I played for coach Paul Sanderford, and he was very challenging, and I played against very tough competition all the time,” Mahoney said. “All of that the teaching, the learning, the constant push to improve definitely prepared me for the WNBA and overseas.”
Now that Mahoney is retired from basketball, she works at SKYPAC as the CFO.
She notes that the lessons she learned on the hardwood still apply today in her everyday life.
“I have found here that there are so many times I have relied on the things I did in basketball to help the organization,” she said. “We always had a team-first mentality, and there have been a lot of times we have been able to bring that here to do what’s best for the organization. All those things have transferred over, and it’s honestly been shocking to me that you can compare the two, but it has really helped.”
After spending time in a variety of places, including with the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury and several European teams, there was always something about Bowling Green that Mahoney wanted to call home once she hung up her jersey.
“Bowling Green is a big town, and I always said it’s small enough that you still see people and talk to people you know out and about, but then you can also get to anything you need,” Mahoney said. “The amount of growth here has been crazy since I was here before. Where I’m from, a very small town, Bowling Green still has that hometown community feel even though it’s a larger town, and I have always really loved that about Bowling Green and Warren County.”
Whether navigating a high-stakes game or managing the finances of a performing arts center, Mahoney continues to prove that the most valuable lessons are the ones that carry over from the court to the community.
