Diana Lorena Taurasi is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and is considered to be one of the greatest players in WNBA history. She was drafted by Phoenix first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft. Taurasi has won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award (2004), three WNBA championships, a historic five Olympic gold medals, one WNBA Most Valuable Player Award (2009), two WNBA Finals MVP Awards, five scoring titles, and three FIBA World Cups. She has also been selected to ten WNBA All-Star teams and fourteen All-WNBA teams. In 2011, she was voted by fans as one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time, and was named by the league to its 20th and 25th anniversary teams, respectively the WNBA Top 20@20 in 2016 and The W25 in 2021. Also in 2021, she was selected by fans as the league's greatest player of all time. On June 18, 2017, Taurasi became the WNBA all-time leading scorer and on June 27, 2021, became the first player to surpass 9,000 points. On August 3, 2023, Taurasi became the first player to score 10,000 career points. Her penchant for scoring in crucial situations has earned her the nickname "White Mamba", coined by Kobe Bryant. Taurasi is one of 11 women to win an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a FIBA World Cup, and a WNBA Championship.
Suzanne Brigit Bird is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Bird was drafted by the Storm first overall in the 2002 WNBA draft and is considered to be one of the greatest players in WNBA history. As of 2021, Bird is the only WNBA player to win titles in three different decades. She held a front office position for the NBA's Denver Nuggets as their Basketball Operations Associate. She has also played for three teams in Russia, and also has dual citizenship with both U.S. and Israel.
Swintayla Marie "Swin" Cash Canal is an American former professional basketball player who played professionally for 15 seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She currently serves as vice president of basketball operations and team development for the New Orleans Pelicans. A prolific scorer and rebounder, as well as a capable ball handler and defender, she helped lead the University of Connecticut women's basketball team to national titles in 2000 and 2002. In her second WNBA season, she led the Detroit Shock to their first ever WNBA title. In 2015, she was named a studio analyst for MSG Networks covering the New York Knicks pre-games and post-games as well as the weekly coaches show. In 2017, Cash was named the Director of franchise development for the New York Liberty. Cash was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 9, 2022.
Joan Bonvicini is a former head basketball coach. Most recently, she was the head coach for the Seattle University women's basketball team, the Redhawks, and one of only 18 coaches in Division I women's basketball history with 701 career victories. She was head coach at the University of Arizona for 17 seasons, leading the Wildcats to the Women's National Invitation Tournament championship in 1996. She was fired by Arizona on March 17, 2008, with one year left on her contract, after a disappointing 10–20 record in her final season. Before joining Arizona in 1991, she coached the Long Beach State 49ers to a 325–71 mark over 12 seasons. During her tenure, the 49ers won at least 24 games each season, winning 10 Big West Conference titles and making 10 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including Final Four appearances in 1987 and 1988.
Barbara Renee Turner is a former American professional basketball player currently working as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She acquired US / Turkish dual citizenship while playing in Turkey; her name in Turkish is spelled Bahar Öztürk.
Melanie Eileen Thomas is an American basketball player who played for the University of Connecticut Huskies from 2004–2008.
Kelly Lee Graves is the current head women's basketball coach at the University of Oregon. Previously, Graves was the head women's basketball coach at St. Mary's from 1997 to 2000, as well as Gonzaga University from 2000 to 2014. He was formerly an assistant coach for the Portland Pilots (1994–1997) and St. Mary Gaels, where he later got his first head coaching stint with the Gaels from 1997 to 2000. From the 2004–2005 season to the 2013–2014 season, he guided Gonzaga to ten consecutive West Coast Conference regular season titles. The 2007 team went 13–1 in conference play, and later won the WCC conference tournament. The school also received its first ever NCAA tournament appearance. He was named WCC co-coach of the year for his accomplishments. In 2005, 2010, and 2011, Gonzaga went undefeated in WCC regular season play.
Briann January is a former American professional basketball player for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and current assistant coach for the Connecticut Sun. After a successful college career at Arizona State University, January was drafted by the Indiana Fever with the sixth overall pick in the 2009 WNBA draft. She has also played for the Phoenix Mercury, the Connecticut Sun, and the Seattle Storm.
Breanna Mackenzie Stewart is an American professional basketball player for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Fenerbahçe of the Women's Basketball Super League, Euroleague Women.
Charmin Smith is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the California Golden Bears women's team.
Chinenye "Chiney" Ogwumike is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 2020, she became the first Black woman and the first WNBA player to host a national radio show for ESPN. She was one of the first and youngest commentators ever to be named an NBA analyst for the network covering the NBA, WNBA, and variety of sports, while simultaneously playing in the WNBA. Chiney is a graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in International relations. She played in three Final Fours and finished as the conference leader in scoring and rebounding as of January 3, 2014. As of 2016, Ogwumike was elected Vice-President of the WNBA Players Association, and signed an endorsement deal with Adidas. In May 2018, Ogwumike signed a multi-year contract with ESPN to become a full-time basketball analyst.
The Washington Huskies women's basketball team represents the University of Washington in NCAA Division I college basketball competing in the Pac-12 Conference. Their home games are played at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, located in Seattle.
Kelsey Christine Plum is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She has won back-to-back WNBA Championships in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, she earned her first All-WNBA First Team selection and was named the WNBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) in her first WNBA All-Star Game. She also won the gold medal in Women's 3x3 basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Samantha Allison Whitcomb is an American-Australian professional basketball player for the Rockingham Flames of the NBL1 West. She is also contracted with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the Washington Huskies before making a name for herself in Australia with the Rockingham Flames in the State Basketball League (SBL) and the Perth Lynx in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). She made her debut in the WNBA in 2017 and won championships with the Seattle Storm in 2018 and 2020. She became an Australian citizen in 2018 and made her debut for the Australian Opals.
Jordin Elizabeth Canada is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was selected by the Seattle Storm with the 5th overall pick in the 2018 WNBA draft. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Canada played collegiately with the UCLA Bruins. She is known for her playmaking, speed and crossover skills. In her rookie season with the Storm, she won her first WNBA championship as they swept the Washington Mystics. In 2020, after winning her second WNBA championship, she signed an endorsement deal with Air Jordan.
The 2020–21 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team represented University of Arizona during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats, led by fifth-year head coach Adia Barnes, play their home games at the McKale Center and are members of the Pac-12 Conference. The Wildcats finished the season second behind Stanford in the Pacific-12 conference with a 13–4 record. They advanced to the semifinals of the 2021 Pac-12 women's tournament where they lost to no. 9 ranked UCLA and As a no. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament where they defeated Stony Brook and BYU in the first and second rounds, no. 4 ranked Texas A&M in the Sweet Sixteen, they won their region with a win over no. 12 ranked Indiana in the first-ever Elite Eight, knocked off no. 1 ranked UConn in the first-ever Final Four. Arizona reached the first-ever National Championship game, losing to no. 2 ranked Stanford 54–53 and finishing the season with a 21–6 record.
Anna Christine Wilson is an American former college basketball player for the Stanford Cardinal of the Pac-12 Conference. As a guard, she holds the team record for most games played over a career with 160, the fourth-most in the history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). At the 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship for Women, she won a gold medal as a part of Team USA. She played three seasons of high school basketball for Collegiate School, where she set the team record for career assists with 246 and had the fifth-most points in team history with 735. Moving to play as a senior for the Bellevue High School Wolverines, her team finished the year with an undefeated season and won the 2016 Class 3A girls state championship. She was named to the McDonald's All-American Game, an all-star girls' basketball game composed of many top-ranked American and Canadian high school basketball graduating seniors.
Aarion Shawnae McDonald is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and for the Perth Lynx of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) in Australia. She was drafted third overall by the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the 2021 WNBA draft after playing college basketball at the University of Washington and the University of Arizona.
Kiana Williams is an American basketball player. She was drafted by the Storm with the 18th pick in the 2021 WNBA draft after playing college basketball at Stanford.
Catherine Reese is an American professional basketball player for Kangoeroes Mechelen of the Belgian Women's Basketball League. She played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats. A four-time All-Pac-12 selection, Reese helped the Wildcats advance to the national championship game as a junior and win the Women's National Invitational Tournament as a freshman. She attended Cypress Woods High School in Cypress, Texas, where she was rated a five-star recruit by ESPN and named a McDonald's All-American, and joined Arizona as the highest-rated recruit in program history.
