Women's Basketball
Leister, Alyssa
Alyssa Leister
- Title:
- Graduate Student Assistant
- Year at CMU:
- 1st
- Hometown:
- St. Louis, Mich.
- Alma Mater/Year:
- Wayne State (MI) '25
- Experience:
- 1st Year
Alyssa Leister joined the staff of Central Michigan Women’s Basketball as a graduate student assistant in the summer of 2025, following her graduation with a bachelor’s in business administration from NCAA II Wayne State (MI) of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
Wayne State won its first NCAA II Tournament game since 2015 in her senior season, in which she started 31 of 32 games and reached double-digit points seven times. She scored in double-figures 15 times in her career on a 39.3 percent clip from the field.
Leister was a multiple-time academic honoree across her four-year, 110-game career with the Warriors’ women’s basketball team. She was named Academic All-District by College Sports Communicators (2025), twice selected for the D2 Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award and a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence team recipient.
No stranger to Central Michigan, the St. Louis, Mich.-native spent the summer of 2022 working as both a strength & conditioning and front office intern in the athletics department, following her freshman year at Wayne State. Leister’s father, John, has been working with the CMU football staff since 2019, as the program’s Director of Football Operations since 2023.
A 2021 graduate of Alma High School, Leister was a 1,000-point scorer and multiple-time all-state honoree by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM), the Associated Press and the Detroit Free Press for the Panthers, while also setting the AHS career kills record as an all-league first-team volleyball player. She played her club basketball with the Michigan Mystics.
Wayne State won its first NCAA II Tournament game since 2015 in her senior season, in which she started 31 of 32 games and reached double-digit points seven times. She scored in double-figures 15 times in her career on a 39.3 percent clip from the field.
Leister was a multiple-time academic honoree across her four-year, 110-game career with the Warriors’ women’s basketball team. She was named Academic All-District by College Sports Communicators (2025), twice selected for the D2 Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award and a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence team recipient.
No stranger to Central Michigan, the St. Louis, Mich.-native spent the summer of 2022 working as both a strength & conditioning and front office intern in the athletics department, following her freshman year at Wayne State. Leister’s father, John, has been working with the CMU football staff since 2019, as the program’s Director of Football Operations since 2023.
A 2021 graduate of Alma High School, Leister was a 1,000-point scorer and multiple-time all-state honoree by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM), the Associated Press and the Detroit Free Press for the Panthers, while also setting the AHS career kills record as an all-league first-team volleyball player. She played her club basketball with the Michigan Mystics.
WBB Practice
Friday, July 04
MAC WBB Tournament Press Conference
Wednesday, March 12
Video Podcast: Amy Folan Connection-Women's Basketball March Madness and the Growth of the Game
Wednesday, March 12
WBB Cinematic Recap - Akron
Monday, March 10
