SN 140: Ranking the greatest women’s college basketball players on our all-time All-America team

SN 140: Ranking the greatest women’s college basketball players on our all-time All-America team originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Women’s college basketball has changed markedly over the past six decades. Once viewed as an afterthought to Boards of Regents and athletic departments, the women’s game is now flourishing. Sides like UConn, South Carolina, UCLA and Texas draw headlines, their rosters littered with glint gemstones.

The future is bright in the women’s game, that much is true. So, in celebration of our 140-year anniversary, we decided to look to the past, forming three quintets of all-time great talents in honor of the sport’s ascendancy.

Contained within this sonnet (plus one) of basketball mavens are acrobats and wizards, sharpshooters and sentries. Some became social media darlings for their effortless play, while others glowed under analog spotlights. There are multiple-time national champions and players who never touched gold across their collegiate careers.

One thing bonds these gifted hoopers together, though. They’re Sporting News All-Americans. These 15 players are eternal, their gifts continuing to bear fruit all these years later.

With that, here’s a look at Sporting News’ all-time women’s college basketball All-Americans.

DECOURCY: As my retirement approaches, here’s my top 10 Final Four memories

Sporting News All-Time Women’s All-America Team

First team

Chamique Holdsclaw

(Getty Images)

Chamique Holdsclaw, Tennessee

Career stats: 20.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, .510 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Player of the Year (1998, 1999), USBWA Player of the Year (1998, 1999), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (1998, 1999)
Team honors: NCAA champion (1996, 1997, 1998)

Overview: In the chorus of noise that was Tennessee women’s basketball in the late 1990s, Holdsclaw was the soprano. A spindly forward with arms like willows, Holdsclaw was women’s college basketball’s greatest attraction, leading the Volunteers to three straight national championships.

Her game was marked by an elegance that transcended gender, leading some – including SLAM magazine – to openly question whether Holdsclaw could find success in the NBA.

Holdsclaw went on to become one of the WNBA’s earliest stars, capturing six All-Star appearances, three All-WNBA nods, two rebounding titles and the 1999 Rookie of the Year. Before all of that, though, Holdsclaw was a Volunteer. She was a damn good one, at that.

Cheryl Miller, USC

Career stats: 23.6 points, 12.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 3.6 steals, 2.5 blocks, .563 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Player of the Year (1984, 1985, 1986), WBCA Player of the Year (1984, 1985), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (1983, 1984)
Team honors: NCAA champion (1983, 1984)

Miller was less a basketball player than a mythical figure during her time at USC. She was the best player in her famous family, outshining Hall of Fame brother Reggie with a 105-point game in high school. Conventional wisdom would have suggested that Miller would struggle out of the gate with the Trojans. Conventional wisdom was wrong.

Los Angeles Sports Arena was a palace in the early 1980s. Miller was its monarch, producing points and rebounds in bunches while leading USC to two national titles. Her career might have preceded the watchful gaze of 1080p. But make no mistake about it; Miller’s game would translate well into the present day.

Diana Taurasi, UConn

Career stats: 15.0 points, 4.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 1.5 steals, .469 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Player of the Year (2003), Honda Sports Award (2003, 2004), Associated Press Player of the Year (2003)
Team honors: NCAA champion (2002, 2003, 2004), Final Four (2001)

Lady Di ‘s raw numbers might not pop off the page. But few players were capable of spearheading winning campaigns quite like Taurasi. On rosters speckled with WNBA talent, Taurasi was the standout. She anchored three national championship-winning sides, emerging as the sport’s greatest-ever guard prospect following the end of her college career.

Head coach Geno Auriemma laid out Taurasi’s gifts concisely when describing her to media during the 2004 Final Four.

“The best way to explain it is that we have Diana and you don’t,” Auriemma said, according to The Digital Collegian. “And every other team in this tournament wishes they had her.”

(Getty Images)

Caitlin Clark, Iowa

Career stats: 28.4 points, 8.2 assists, 7.1 rebounds, .462 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (2023, 2024), AP Player of the Year (2023, 2024)
Team honors: Final Four (2023, 2024)

Clark’s collegiate career has been litigated and re-litigated at length. The numbers don’t lie, however. Clark was college basketball’s greatest-ever scorer across four years in Iowa City. She was also its finest passer, leading the country in assists three straight seasons.

MORE: Best women’s college basketball players without a title

A spell-binder at all levels of the floor, Clark’s game was adorned with pearls. She left the sport with far more memories than it had when she entered it, from game-winners against Michigan State and Indiana to 40-point triple doubles in the tournament.

“You started seeing the long-range shots and the game-winners,” former Hawkeyes head coach Lisa Bluder told The Sporting News as Clark approached the all-time scoring record in 2024. “That’s when you knew … It’s like the bigger the moment, the bigger she is, which is so counter to what most people are. Some people crumble under the pressure… It’s almost like that is not a burden to Caitlin. She’s just going to bust it down.”

Breanna Stewart, UConn

Career stats: 17.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.7 blocks, .530 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (2014, 2015, 2016), AP Player of the Year (2014, 2015, 2016), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Team honors: NCAA champion (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)

Stewart signed her letter of intent to play for the Huskies on the hood of her car in the parking lot of her dad’s office. The deadline for her to submit the document was fast-approaching in Nov. 2011 and Stewart — the 6-4 wunderkind with guard skills — was stressed. She scribbled her signature across the writ before submitting it via fax to UConn’s relevant authorities.

It was an inspired choice. In a program shaped by luminaries, Stewart — with her two-way prowess, dancer-like footwork and “Durant-esque” ability to score at all three levels — shone brighter than any of her contemporaries. She’s women’s college basketball’s greatest-ever winner, claiming four national titles across four years. She won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player honors in each of those campaigns.

Simply put, the North Syracuse, N.Y., native is one of the greatest talents in women’s college basketball history. Her former head coach, Geno Auriemma, said as much:

“We’ve had some of the greatest players ever in college basketball,” Auriemma told Sports on Earth in 2014, “but never anyone who had the God-given things that Stewie has.”

Second team

Maya Moore, UConn

Career stats: 19.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 steals, 1.3 blocks, .525 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (2009, 2011), AP Player of the Year (2009, 2011), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2010)
Team honors: NCAA champion (2009, 2010), Final Four (2008, 2011)

Like all great showmen, Moore saved her greatest performances for times when the spotlight was burning. She was at the heart of two national championship-winning Husky sides. The latter of those tournament runs saw Moore cement herself in women’s college basketball lore.

MORE: Caitlin Clark-Maya Moore relationship, explained

After exploding for 34 points and 12-rebounds against Brittney Griner-led Baylor in the national semifinals, Moore — a 6-0 guard with the innate ability to produce timely baskets — lifted UConn out of a first-half stupor against Stanford. She scored 11 of the Huskies first 17 second-half points against the Cardinals, helping UConn turn a 20-12 halftime deficit to a 53-47 win and a second-straight national championship.

Auriemma summed up her performance succinctly.

“It’s what great players do,” Auriemma said, according to ESPN.

Brittney Griner, Baylor

Career stats: 22.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 5.5 blocks, .570 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (2012, 2013), AP Player of the Year (2012, 2013), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2012)
Team honors: NCAA champion (2011), Final Four (2010)

Griner was the most dominant force in women’s college basketball across her four years in Waco. She’s the sports’ all-time leading block artist, collecting 748 in 148 games — good for an average of an utterly absurd 5.1 swats per contest.

MORE: Where Brittney Griner ranks among tallest player in WNBA history

But there was more to Griner’s games than the ability to pester attackers. She was also a splendid scorer, using every sinew of her 6-9 frame to wreak havoc in the post.

Yes, there were the one-handed jams she would throw down on fast breaks. But there were also drop steps, hook shots and shimmies contained within Griner’s arsenal, all of which left defenders feeling weary.

Candace Parker, Tennessee

Career stats: 19.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.9 steals, 2.5 blocks, .538 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (2008), AP Player of the Year (2008), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2007, 2008)
Team honors: NCAA champion (2007, 2008)

Parker could very well be the best player in Tennessee history. She surpassed the 1,000-point plateau faster than Holdsclaw or Tamika Catchings did, accomplishing the feat in just 56 games. A two-time national champion who enticed audiences with glimmering two-way play — and a penchant for a one-handed jam — Parker helped re-establish the Volunteers as one of the nation’s true heavyweights, delivering their first national title of the 21st century in 2007.

MORE: Where is Candace Parker from?

Then, they did it again. Parker averaged 21.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 2.3 blocks along the way, earning her second straight Most Outstanding Player trophy.

Sheryl Swoopes, Texas Tech

Career stats: 24.9 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 3.4 steals .527 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (1993), WBCA Player of the Year (1993), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (1993)
Team honors: NCAA champion (1993)

Swoopes played just two years of high-level college ball, enrolling at Texas Tech after a two-year stint at South Plains College (Texas). Her spell in Lubbock was filled with gold; Swoopes led the Red Raiders to their lone national title as a senior, averaging 28.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.4 steals en route to the title.

MORE: SN’s hoops panel ranks greatest college hoops teams of all time

In the title game, Swoopes was at her ebullient best. She tallied 47 points, a single-game championship scoring record that still stands tall some 33 years later.

“There are no words to describe what a great player she is,” Texas Tech head coach Marsha Sharp said following the game, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I’ve never seen a player who can dominate a game like she can. She’s the greatest player of her time, and she does everything with so much class.”

Dawn Staley, Virginia

Career stats: 16.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 3.6 steals .460 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (1991, 1992), WBCA Player of the Year (1991, 1992), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (1991)
Team honors: Final Four (1990, 1991, 1992)

Staley was, in plain terms, women’s college basketball’s finest playmaker. She was a diminutive talent, standing no taller than 5-6.

MORE: Did Dawn Staley play in the WNBA?

What she didn’t have in frame, Staley made up for in intensity. The Philly native retired as the NCAA’s all-time leader in steals, compiling 454 across four seasons in Charlottesville. She lifted the Cavaliers — a fairly unremarkable program in the years before or since her reign — into national title contention, pushing the ‘Hoos to three Final Fours. In 1991, Staley received the ultimate honor, taking home Most Outstanding Player honors despite falling in the national championship game to Tennessee. To date, she is the only women’s player to receive the prize despite losing in the tournament final.

MORE: Where did Dawn Staley play college basketball?

Third team

Getty Images

Lynette Woodard, Kansas

Career stats: 26.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 3.6 steals .525 FG pct
Individual honors: Honda Sports Award (1981), Wade Trophy (1981)

Woodard’s name is often brought up solely in the context of Caitlin Clark’s pursuit — and eventual passing — of her scoring record. That’s a disservice to the player Woodard was.

MORE: How Caitlin Clark’s scoring record compares to Lynette Woodard

An Olympic gold medalist who claimed USA Basketball’s Female Athlete of the Year prize in 1983 over standouts like Cheryl Miller, Kim Mulkey, Anne Donovan and Denise Curry, Woodard was a cannoneer with the Jayhawks. A four-time All-American in Lawrence, Woodard tallied nearly 3,700 points in her career — all without a three-point line.

More than just a scorer, Woodard racked up more rebounds and steals than any Jayhawk in program history. While her scoring mark isn’t formally recognized by the NCAA, she remains one of the college game’s grandest-ever talents.

MORE: Revisiting Lynette Woodard’s college basketball career

Ann Meyers Drysdale, UCLA

Career stats: 17.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 4.2 steals
Individual honors: Broderick Cup (1978), Honda Sports Award (1978)
Team honors: AIAW national champion (1978)

As the first woman to ever land a Division I athletic scholarship, Meyers Drysdale was bound to make history one way or another when she turned up at Pauley Pavilion.

As it turned out, Meyers Drysdale was worth the punt. She led the Bruins to the AIAW national championship in 1978, earning men’s basketball coach John Wooden’s admiration in the process.

For her efforts, she was rewarded handsomely. Meyers Drysdale became the first — and to date, only — women’s player to sign an NBA contract, inking a $150,000 free agent deal with the Pacers in 1979.

SN ARCHIVE: Relive sports history through the pages of The Sporting News

Seimone Augustus, LSU

Career stats: 19.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.5 steals, .544 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (2005, 2006), Wooden Award (2005, 2006), Honda Sports Award (2005, 2006)
Team honors: Final Four (2004, 2005, 2006)

Augustus’ legacy still lingers at LSU’s practice facility. Before Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson and Kim Mulkey pushed the program to glory, there was Augustus, a lanky wing who pranced — not ambled — beyond defenders.

A Baton Rouge native, Augustus lifted her hometown team to three consecutive national championships across her time with the Tigers. The Basketball Hall of Famer will dance with LSU greats for eternity, now; she is one of four Tigers to have a statue carved out in their honor at the program’s basketball facility, joined by Bob Pettit, Shaquille O’Neal and Pete Maravich.

Clarissa Davis, Texas

Career stats: 19.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals, .575 FG pct
Individual honors: Naismith Award (1987, 1989), WBCA Player of the Year (1989), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (1986)
Team honors: NCAA champion (1986), Final Four (1987)

Of all the great teams to emerge from Austin’s glistening shores, just one has hoisted women’s college basketball’s crown: the 1986 Longhorns.

Perhaps that’s because of their talisman, Davis. A two-time Naismith Award winner, Davis was the sport’s most feared proposition in the late 1980s. She earned Most Outstanding Player honors as a freshman, combining for 60 points and 32 rebounds in wins over Western Kentucky and Cheryl Miller’s USC in the Final Four.

Lusia Harris, Delta State

Career stats: 25.9 points, 14.5 rebounds, .636 FG pct
Individual honors: Honda Sports Award (1977), Broderick Cup (1977) AIAW Tournament MVP (1975, 1976, 1977)
Team honors: AIAW champion (1975, 1976, 1977)

Dubbed “The Queen of Basketball” by those who knew her, Harris was one of women’s basketball’s first supernovas, starring for Delta State during its golden era in the mid-to-late 1970s.

The first and only woman to be officially drafted by an NBA team, Harris was an impact player on both sides of the hardwood.

MORE: What Lusia Harris and the rules tell us about women playing in NBA

“She was like the Tina Charles or Sylvia Fowles of her time,” former WNBA coach Marianne Stanley said of Harris’ game, according to ESPN. “Just head and shoulders above lots of other folks.”

Widely considered the best post player of her generation, Harris’ skillset continues to dance in audience collective memory all these years later.

“Watching her play was marvelous,” Meyers Drysdale said. “There was no one like her. She was 6-foot-3, solid as a rock. Had great footwork, great hands, could hit the 15-footer. Her post moves were so good.”

SN COVERS: Check out all the classics from Ty Cobb to Kobe Bryant

Source link