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Another day, another woman making sports history. Earlier this week, softball legend Jessica Mendoza joined ESPN's MLB broadcast team as an in-booth analyst, and today she welcomes a second member to the uber-exclusive club of female professional sports analysts. Fox Sports Carolina announced that after covering the Charlotte Hornets as a sideline reporter for the past 12 seasons, Stephanie Ready will be taking her talents inside the Hornets' booth as the NBA's first full-time female game analyst this fall. Fox Sports Southeast's broadcast team will also include play-by-play announcer Eric Collins and former Charlotte Hornets player Dell Curry. Ready is no stranger to breaking barriers. She entered the NBA Development League's (NBDL) history books as the first woman to coach a men's professional sports team when she joined the Greenville Groove as an assistant coach in 2001. And prior to coaching in the NBDL, Ready was just the third woman to coach a Division I men's team when she was named an assistant coach at Coppin State. She was also the first full-time female recruiting assistant on any staff. Taking the road less traveled by women was a conscious decision. She told Fox Sports Carolina, "This is actually the reason I got into television in the first place," adding, "I always wanted to be a game analyst. I have a passion for the game of basketball and being a coach, you teach the game and you learn how to explain the game [for those] who may not understand it. I thought being a game analyst on television would be perfect, because that's what you get to do." She also told Fox Sports, "I didn't set out to blaze a trail or be the first. It just naturally came because of the work that I was doing. Having said that though, I think that things happen for a reason and that there's some people who may not be ready to do something because there's a lot that comes with that." Well, Stephanie, based on your work ethic, career accomplishments and surname, there's no doubt you were born to do this. Keep walking in your destiny!
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