8 Women in Basketball You Should Know Way More About
Dawn Staley, head coach of the SEC’s top-ranked South Carolina women’s basketball team, ushered in March Madness by making history as the first African-American woman to secure the USA women’s national team head coaching position. The Hall of Famer — after whom the WNBA Community Leadership Award is named — will coach the team in international competitions through 2020, including the 2018 world championship in Spain and the 2020 Olympics in Japan. Meanwhile, Washington senior Kelsey Plum created some madness of her own in March by tallying 3,527 career points to secure the best scoring record in NCAA history. Washington was stopped in the Sweet Sixteen round, but Plum — assuming she has WNBA aspirations — is just getting started. From courts and sidelines to executive suites, scores of dynamic women have blazed trails and shattered ceilings to help shape basketball’s modern era. Here’s a look at eight more women who’ve made hoops history.
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Getty Images2/10Cynthia Cooper
As part of the now-defunct Houston Comets’ Big Three — with Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson rounding out the trio — Cooper won championships in the WNBA’s first four seasons of existence (1997-2000). In her prime, the star guard earned WNBA Finals MVP honors four times, WNBA MVP honors twice, and Olympic gold and bronze medals; she was the first WNBA player to reach the scoring milestones of 500, 1000, 2000, and 2500 points. Cooper was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 and enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Getty Images3/10Brittney Griner
The 6’8” superstar center with a WNBA championship and Olympic gold medal may have a monster dunk and graceful layup, but the defensive end of the court is where she is building her basketball legacy. Griner has earned WNBA Defensive Player of the Year honors in consecutive years and she has kept WNBA blocking records on lockdown. Griner, who is gay, came out publicly while still in college — something previously unheard of for an athlete in any sport — and she was the first out gay player to sign a major endorsement deal (Nike), thereby blazing a trail for LBGT inclusion in sports and sports marketing while becoming an anti-bullying advocate along the way.
Getty Images4/10Becky Hammon
After a 16-year WNBA playing career, Hammon was hired by San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Greg Popovich in 2014 — making her the first woman to secure a paid, full-time coaching position in the NBA. “Leadership has no gender,” Hammon said of her history-making hire. “The point is, do you know basketball? Do you know what it takes to lead people?” To be hired by one of the best coaches in NBA history speaks volumes about Hammon’s abilities, and her groundbreaking move to the NBA sidelines quickly led the way for female coaches to grab clipboards in other male professional sports leagues.
Getty Images5/10Sheila Johnson
A co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, Johnson became the first African-American woman to own a WNBA team when her ownership group purchased the Washington Mystics from the NBA’s Washington Wizards in 2005. But the trail didn’t stop there for the media mogul and philanthropist. Johnson would go on to add the Wizards and Washington Capitals (NHL) to her portfolio, making her the first African-American woman to hold ownership stakes in three professional sports teams.
Getty Images6/10Lisa Leslie
Little girls didn’t know professional basketball was an option for them until Lisa Leslie quickly became the face of the WNBA soon after the league’s 1996 inception. Leslie was the first WNBA player to win regular season MVP, All-Star Game MVP, and WNBA Finals MVP honors in the same season; she also won two WNBA Championships with the Los Angeles Sparks and four Olympic gold medals during her heyday. Leslie was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015 and inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame the same year.
Getty Images7/10Michele Roberts
Roberts — a Berkley law school graduate and partner in a prestigious Washington firm — was named executive director of the NBA Players Association in 2014, making her the first woman to lead a major North American professional sports union. “My past,” she told NBA players at the time of her hiring, “is littered with the bones of men who were foolish enough to think I was someone they could sleep on.” Really, enough said — oh, and that she secured the position just two votes shy of a unanimous appointment, right after crushing the dreams of roughly 299 other candidates who went after the position.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea8/10Breanna Stewart
By the time 6’4” Stewart arrived in the WNBA from UConn, she had consecutive NCAA championships under her belt by way of back-to-back undefeated seasons and a FIBA gold medal to go with them. During her first season in the WNBA, Stewart won gold with the USA women’s national team at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and finished the year by being named WNBA 2016 Rookie of the Year — a single vote shy of a unanimous selection. The Seattle star remains the only player in NCAA history to be named Associated Press Player of the Year three times and, under the mentorship of veteran guard and future Hall of Famer Sue Bird, Stewart is on course to storm her way into the WNBA history books as well.
Getty Images9/10Pat Summitt
In the world of college hoops coaching, Summitt didn’t shatter a glass ceiling — she melted sand and made it, becoming and remaining the winningest coach in college basketball history. By comparison, Duke’s Coach K is second in coaching with 1,071 wins in 42 seasons to Summitt’s 1,098 wins across 38 seasons — wins that include eight NCAA titles for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Summitt, who died in 2016, coached the USA women’s national team to its first gold medal, at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics; she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and, in 2000, enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and voted Naismith College Coach of the Century.
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