1) Lusia Harris

Long before the WNBA or even the NCAA women’s tournament, Harris established herself as the “Queen” of basketball. Born and raised in Mississippi in the era of Jim Crow, Harris found basketball as a refuge and matriculated at Delta State right after Title IX was passed. She participated in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Woman (AIAW), as the NCAA would not officially recognize women’s basketball until 1981, and absolutely dominated. In her final three years at Delta State, Harris was an All-American each time, led the Lady Statesmen to back-to-back-to-back titles, ending the previous dynasty of Immaculata, and was named MVP of the AIAW Tournament all three times. Between her junior and senior seasons, she was also a key part of the first U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team, scoring the first ever basket in women’s play and ultimately winning a silver medal. With nowhere to play once she graduated from Delta State, Harris was working as an assistant coach when the Jazz selected her in the seventh round of the 1977 NBA Draft. This marked Harris as the only woman ever officially drafted by an NBA team but she was forced to decline a training camp invitation due to pregnancy. She did eventually manage to play pro ball briefly with the Houston Angels of the Women’s Professional Basketball League (WPBL) in ’79-’80. In an honorific befitting the sport’s “Queen,” Harris became the first Black woman inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1992.

2) Denise Long

Though Lusia Harris was the first woman ever sanctioned as an NBA draft pick, Long was actually the first woman drafted by an NBA team. It happened in 1969, when the Warriors selected her in the 13th round. The pick was soon after voided by commissioner Larry O’Brien, not because Long was a woman but because she was only 19 years old and the NBA eligibility rules at the time stated that a draftee must be at least four years removed from high school. Warriors owner Franklin Mieuli surely was aware of that rule but if the selection was just a publicity stunt, at least it was a beneficial one for Long and women’s basketball in general. A prep legend in Iowa, Long scored 100 points in a game three times (including 111 in one contest, which is still the girls’ high school national record), averaged 69.6 points per game in her senior year, and led Union-Whitten High School to the 1969 state title. Having finished high school years before Title IX, Long seemingly had no opportunities at the collegiate, professional, or even national team levels. But Mieuli did have plans for her as the centerpiece of his new all-women’s league, which played during halftime of Warriors games. Though her time in that semi-pro league was brief (and not lucrative, as the miserly Mieuli didn’t even pay the players), Long’s NBA Draft claim to fame managed to raise the profile of women’s basketball. She was featured in Sports Illustrated and several other major media outlets, including an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

3) Cheryl Miller

During an NBA career in which he taunted and tormented opposing teams, Reggie Miller would always reference his older sister Cheryl as the one opponent he could never overcome. During childhood one-on-one battles, Cheryl would apparently dominate Reggie, to the point that he credits her shot blocking as the impetus for his distinct, high-arching long distance shooting style (it wasn’t all sibling rivalry though, as the pair would also apparently run “White Men Can’t Jump” style hustles against local street ballers). The elder Miller certainly didn’t limit her prowess to the local parks, eventually using her incredible athleticism and above-the-rim skills to become one of the most dominant high school and collegiate players of all time. She was the first player, male or female, to be named an All-American in all four years of high school, a period during which she led Riverside Polytechnic to a 132-4 record and set the California state marks for points in a season and in a career. At USC, Miller was arguably even more pre-eminent, earning the Naismith Award three times and the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honor twice, while leading the Trojans to back-to-back titles in 1983 and 1984. She was also the team leader in points, rebounds, and assists on the 1984 Olympic team that earned the first gold medal in U.S. women’s history. There were, of course, limited pro opportunities for women back then but any possibilities that existed for Miller were cut short anyway by an ACL tear suffered during a pick-up game in 1986. Otherwise, she likely would have been one of the stars of the early WNBA, like her USC teammate Cynthia Cooper. Instead, Miller turned her focus to success in coaching and broadcasting the sport she loved. She was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1995, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 (as part of the inaugural class), and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2010.

4) Joan Crawford
5) Nera White

While we rightfully lament the lack of professional chances for the women’s basketball stars of the ’70s and ’80s, opportunities were even more scarce for the trail blazers of the ’50s. Arguably the two greatest players of that era, Crawford and White had to forge alternate paths of basketball careers, as no college organized a women’s squad yet. Instead, some schools would sponsor AAU teams, which is how Crawford and White linked up at Nashville Business College and forged a dynasty on par with John Wooden’s UCLA or Bill Russell’s Celtics. In their 12 seasons as teammates, Nashville Business College won 10 titles, including eight in a row from 1962 to 1969. In the end, the only thing that could slow them down was the institution, which began de-emphasizing its basketball involvement after the 1969 title. They were also at the center of the 1957 U.S. national team that won gold at the FIBA Women’s World Cup, upsetting the Soviet Union. White, who revolutionized the sport with her all-around talent, retired in 1969 to return to her family farm in Tennessee and spent the remainder of her life raising cattle. She was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1992 and Crawford joined her five years later.

6) Anne Donovan

At 6’8″, Donovan was a powerhouse at the high school, collegiate, and national team levels, setting the prototype for generations of low post superstars like Lisa Leslie, Sylvia Fowles, and Candace Parker. During her four years at Old Dominion, Donovan averaged an eye-popping 5.9 blocks per game, an unofficial all-time record for men or women (because her first two collegiate seasons came under the AIAW before transitioning to the NCAA, the full breadth of Donovan’s statistics are not considered). Teaming up with Nancy Lieberman, Donovan led the Lady Monarchs to an AIAW title as a freshman in ’79-’80, logging 10 blocks in the championship game victory over Tennessee. Also a solid long range shooter, especially for her size, Donovan led the AIAW in scoring, rebounding, and free throw percentage in ’80-’81, while carrying Old Dominion back to the AIAW Final Four. She was additionally a member of the national team for nearly a decade, missing out on the 1980 Olympics due to the U.S. boycott but earning gold medals in 1984 and 1988 when she was, unsurprisingly, the team’s leader in blocked shots in each tournament. While she never got to play professional basketball in the U.S., Donovan did join leagues in Japan and Italy before officially retiring in 1988. Befitting her career, she eventually made history in the WNBA, as the first woman coach of a championship team, with the Seattle Storm in 2004.

“Standing 7’2″ and wearing a men’s size 21 show, Semjonova was a commanding presence on the court and the lack of video evidence of her dominance has turned her into a George Mikan type figure, with mostly just second hand accounts of her brilliance.”

7) Katrina McClain

While her impact on pro basketball is minimal, few players have defined the U.S. women’s national team more so than McClain. It started just after her sophomore year at Georgia, when McClain, a power forward nicknamed “Tree” for her immovable presence in the post, led the U.S. team in scoring and rebounding en route to a silver medal at the 1985 World University Games. She would eventually participate in 10 additional major international competitions: three Olympics (1988, 1992, and 1996), three FIBA World Championships (1986, 1990, and 1994), two Goodwill Games (1986 and 1990), and two Pan Am Games (1987 and 1991). Perhaps the most impressive performance came at the 1996 Olympics in her adopted home state of Georgia, where McClain was the second leading scorer and leading rebounder at age 30 as the U.S. won gold. It was her record third Olympic medal and she additionally set the U.S. Olympic career records for points with 258 (she’s still fifth on that list) and rebounds with 166 (she’s still second, behind only Lisa Leslie). In addition to her star turns on the national team, McClain was also the NCAA Player of the Year in ’86-’87 and an All-American twice. She did spend nearly a decade playing professionally in Japan, Italy, Turkey, and Spain. Just as the WNBA was getting started in 1997, McClain’s career was coming to a close due to a torn meniscus suffered during the 1996 Olympics. She was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2012 and in 2018, the NCAA began handing out the Katrina McClain Award to the nation’s best power forward.

8) Carol Blazejowski

When the WNBA was chartered in 1997, Blazejowski was instrumental in the league’s formation in her capacity as the NBA’s Director of Women’s Basketball Programs. She later accepted roles as the WNBA’s Director of Basketball Development and as vice president of the New York Liberty. But long before all that, “The Blaze” was one of the most prolific scorers in basketball history. Though she never played organized basketball before her senior year of high school, Blazejowski exploded on the scene for Montclair State (in her home state of New Jersey) in 1975, eventually scoring a then record 3,199 career points, while being named an All-American three times. After initially refusing to turn pro to keep her Olympic eligibility (she was named to the 1980 team that withdrew due to the U.S. boycott), Blazejowski eventually became a superstar for the New Jersey Gems of the Women’s Basketball League in the early ’80s. She was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1994.

9) Pearl Moore

She stood just 5’7″, attended a tiny college in rural South Carolina, and played in an era before the three-point line, but no man or woman has ever scored more points in their collegiate career than Moore. Over four years at Francis Marion College, the sharpshooting Moore compiled 4,061 points, setting a record that will likely never be broken. And she did it in dramatic fashion, dropping an AIAW record 60 points against Tennessee in the final game of her career to surpass the previous record of 4,045 set by Travis Grant. Moore then became one of the biggest stars of the short-lived WPBL, leading the New York Stars to the ’79-’80 title. She then spent some time playing for a pro team in Venezuela before retiring to take a job with Federal Express. Though she was first nominated in 1994, it took over a quarter century for Moore to finally get inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2021.

10) Ann Meyers

Over an exemplary basketball career, Meyers was a pioneer in many respects. That started in 1974, when she became the first high school player selected for a U.S. national team (winning gold in the Pan American Games) and the first woman to receive an athletic scholarship from UCLA. Stepping onto the same campus that had recently produced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, Meyers etched her name into the school’s record books, leading the Bruins to their first women’s title in 1978, in the AIAW, while becoming the first played to be named an All-American in all four years she played. From there, Meyers also participated on the first U.S. women’s Olympic team (winning silver in 1976), became the first player drafted by the WBL and the league’s first MVP, and was the first, and still only, woman signed by an NBA team. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of her brother, Dave, who played five seasons with the Bucks, Ann survived the first round of cuts in her tryout with the Pacers but ultimately couldn’t make the final squad. Even when her playing days ended, Meyers was still achieving superlative firsts, as part of the first group of players to have their jerseys retired by UCLA (alongside Abdul-Jabbar), and the first class inducted into the Women’s Basketball and FIBA Halls of Fame.

11) Uljana Semjonova

When women’s basketball made its debut at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, the U.S. fielded a star-studded team, highlighted by Nancy Lieberman, Lusia Harris, and Ann Meyers. But they were powerless against the Soviet center Semjonova, arguably the greatest player in women’s basketball history. In fact, when the Americans and Soviets went head-to-head it wasn’t even close, as Semjonova dropped 32 points in a 112-77 U.S.S.R. blowout win en route to gold. This was part of a streak of 18 years in which the Soviet national team never lost a game with Semjonova on the floor. That also included a second gold medal at the 1980 Olympics (where the U.S.S.R. put on a Dream Team-esque show, winning every game by 30+ points), titles in the 1971, 1975, and 1983 FIBA World Championships (the Soviets withdrew from the 1979 competition), 10 EuroBasket titles, and a 1979 tour in which the Soviet team went undefeated in games against the top U.S. college teams. Standing 7’2″ and wearing a men’s size 21 show, Semjonova was a commanding presence on the court and the lack of video evidence of her dominance has turned her into a George Mikan type figure, with mostly just second hand accounts of her brilliance. In addition to her time with the national team, the Latvian Semjonova also led TTT Riga to 15 European club championships. She was the first non-American woman inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1993, and was one of the few athletes to receive the Soviet Order of the Red Banner of Labour designation for her contributions to national pride.

12) Ora Washington

Though she excelled at it to the extent that she’s now enshrined in Springfield, basketball wasn’t Washington’s first sport. Born in poverty in rural Virginia in 1899, Washington took up tennis when her family relocated to Philadelphia in the ’10s as part of the Great Migration. Due to the strict segregation policies of the time, Washington played in the all-Black American Tennis Association and dominated, winning seven titles in her 12 year career. But due to frustrations with tennis’ racist policies, Washington also spread her dominance to basketball, starting with the Philly-based Germantown Hornets, a barnstorming all-women’s pro team. With Washington leading the way, the Hornets dominated their competition, including in occasional match-ups against men’s teams. Though basketball still provided most of the same racial barriers as tennis, Washington excelled in the sport to the extent possible and is widely considered the greatest women’s player of the first half of the 20th century. Upon retiring from tennis and basketball in the late ’40s, Washington continued her career as a housekeeper while additionally coaching and mentoring young athletes at the YWCA in Philadelphia at which she started. Her name isn’t widely recognized but Washington was an unquestionable pioneer in basketball for both Black athletes and female ones.