Cheerleader makes acrobatic half-court trick shot

Let's see LeBron James do this.

Ashlee Arnau, a cheerleader at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Miss., made an incredible front-flip half-court shot Thursday night at halftime of the school's men's basketball game that became an instant Internet sensation.

The ball was placed on the floor at midcourt. Arnau approached it with a running start, did a front-flip, grabbing the ball while she was upside down, and then launching it toward the basket while her legs swung forward.

Swish!

"I really don't practice at all," Arnau told The Associated Press in a phone interview late Thursday night.

On Friday, Arnau received a visit from a guy who knows a little something about trick shots - Firefly Fisher of The Harlem Globetrotters.

Fisher, whose real name is Tay and played at Siena College, was in Hattiesburg promoting the Globetrotters' game there Wednesday night on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Arnau worked with Fisher on performing his own version of the trick shot, with a cartwheel - and she made another one.

Arnau will attempt it again at the Globetrotters' game next week. The Globetrotters donated 100 tickets in her name to those affected by the recent tornados that ripped through area last week.

The 21-year-old Arnau also plays soccer and runs track for William Carey, which competes in the NAIA. She said the front-flip shot was a takeoff on the front-flip throw-in that soccer players do.

She said she has been trying the shot during halftime of home basketball games all season, but this was the first time she made it on her home floor. She said she once made the shot while attending a junior college tournament game, but that one bounced in.

"I didn't count it because I wanted it to go nothing but net," she said Thursday night. "Tonight I was really blessed it happened."

She said she usually tries it about four or five times during the halftime show. She nailed it on her fifth attempt Thursday night - during the last home game of the season.

"Everyone was going crazy," said Arnau, a junior from Hattiesburg who said she is studying to be a nurse. "They were cheering my name."