Melanie Ward joined the Illinois Wesleyan women's basketball staff prior to the 2010-11 season.
Ward, a native of Fairbury, Ill., played at Illinois State University and was inducted into their athletic Hall of Fame in 2009. She was a two-time first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection (1995, 1996) and was the fifth player in Redbird history to reach 1,000 career points as a junior and finished with 1,453 in her career.
Ward owns the Illinois State record for single-season freshman field goal percentage (.574) and ended her career with a .534 percentage. She finished her career with 18 double-doubles, 589 field goals made, and 724 rebounds.
The 1994 and 1995 Redbird "MVP", she was chosen to the 1996 Missouri Valley Conference All-Tournament Team, was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District V selection and twice a member of the Valley Scholar-Athlete Team.
