Jeff Metcalfe
Jeff Metcalfe
Welcome visitors to the first NCAA Women’s Final Four in Arizona, where women’s basketball goes back further than anyone would expect.
Much further.
Tempe Normal School, Arizona State University since 1958, was founded in 1885. There are women’s basketball team photos going back to at least 1889. Another archival gem shows the 1920 team posing in from of the gym with Fred Irish, best
known as Normal/ASU’s first football coach (1897-1906) and athletic director.
Bits and pieces of coverage made the newspapers in the early 20th century including this from the Arizona Republic in 1923 after the Normals went 14-1.
“More and more attention has been given to athletics for girls during the last few years until it has become impossible for a girl to graduate without some sort of physical training to her credit. Young women of the school are required to take part in some sport
during the entire year.”
ASU elevated women’s basketball to a varsity sport in 1975-76 and in its 50th anniversary season returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 under new coach Molly Miller. That celebration spills over to the Final Four with ASU as
the host institution.
“It accelerates our momentum in a lot of ways,” ASU athletic director Graham Rossini says of the Final Four. “I’m a big believer that winning breeds winning. That’s attractive to people that are joining our state.”
For now and especially for those not familiar with the state’s history, here are some of those most influential in Arizona women’s basketball at every level, listed in alphabetical order.
Adia Barnes
Barnes played at Arizona from 1995-98 and still is the Wildcats’ career scoring leader (2,237 points). After her professional career including seven seasons in the WNBA, she moved into coaching and returned to Arizona as head coach in 2016. Her nine UA
teams were a combined 169-114 and the 2020-21 Wildcats reached the NCAA Tournament championship game, losing 54-53 to Stanford. Barnes was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
Ryneldi Becenti
Becenti, from Window Rock High School, was a two-time All-America at Scottsdale Community College then was All Pac-10 twice (1992-93) at Arizona State. She was the first Native American to play in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury in 1997. Becenti is a five-time Hall of Fame inductee including the American Indian Athletic HOF (1996) and ASU Athletic HOF (2004). Her ASU jersey hangs at Desert Financial Arena.
Joan Bonvicini
After 12 seasons with 325 wins at Long Beach State and NCAA Final Four appearances in 1987 and ’88, Bonvicini moved to Arizona in 1991. Her record in 17 seasons (eight with 20 wins) at Arizona was 287-223, most wins in school history. She also coached seven seasons at Seattle, through 2015-16, raising her career wins total to 703. Bonvicini was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
Ann Meyers Drysdale
Meyers Drysdale already was a women’s basketball legend when she became Phoenix Mercury general manager in 2007. The Mercury won WNBA titles that year and in 2009 under her front office leadership. She has been vice president for the Phoenix Suns and Mercury and continues now as an analyst for both teams. From her playing career at UCLA internationally and professionally, Meyers Drysdale is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Women’s Basketball HOF and FIBA HOF. She was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.
Jennifer Gillom
Gillom was one of the first two players allocated in 1997 to the Phoenix Mercury ahead of the inaugural WNBA season. She played for the Mercury from 1997-2002 including in the 1998 WNBA Finals and was All-WNBA in 1997 and 1998. Gillom was a WNBA head coach in Minnesota and Los Angeles. She has coached two stints at Phoenix Xavier Prep, most recently since 2017, and her team won the 2024 Open state title. Gillom, a 1988 Olympic gold medalist, was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019 and the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 2022 and is in the Mercury Ring of Honor.
Brittney Griner
Griner was the WNBA No. 1 overall draft pick by the Phoenix Mercury in 2013, playing 11 seasons with the Mercury and winning a WNBA championship in 2014. Her WNBA accomplishments include three-time All-WNBA first team, three-time second team, two-time scoring champion, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time MVP runner-up and second in career blocks. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time EuroLeague champion. Griner missed the 2022 season while under detention in Russia then returned to play two more seasons with the Mercury before signing in 2025 with the Atlanta Dream.
Julie Brase Hairgrove
Hairgrove’s 2,913 points from 1994-98 at Tucson Catalina Foothills still is an Arizona high school career state record. Catalina Foothills won the 1997 4A state title. Hairgrove played in college at Arizona, where her grandfather Lute Olson was men’s basketball coach from 1983-2007. Hairgrove was on the Phoenix Mercury staff from 2005-2022 including on three WNBA championship teams. The Tucson native now is Arizona women’s basketball assistant/director of player development. She was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
Kym Hampton
Coach Juliene Simpson convincing Hampton to choose Arizona State coming out of high school in Louisville, Ky., is arguably the greatest recruiting achievement in school history. Hampton, who played from 1980-84, still is ASU’s career scoring leader and
second in career rebounding. She led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1982 and ’83 before a pro career culminating with three WNBA seasons. The two-time All-American was inducted into the ASU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989 and her jersey hangs
in Desert Financial Arena.
Briann January
Arizona State’s deepest NCAA Tournament runs – to the Elite Eight in 2007 and 2009 – were with teams led by January, two-time Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and All-American honorable mention. She is ASU’s most successful WNBA player after being drafted sixth overall in 2009. January played 14 seasons including with the Phoenix Mercury in 2018-19 and won a WNBA title with Indiana in 2012. She was an ASU assistant coach in 2017-18 while still active as a player and currently is an Indiana
Fever assistant.
Lisa Jones
Jones went from Phoenix South Mountain High School to Arizona State, where she played from 1986-90 then joined the Phoenix Fire Department, rising to deputy chief as well as city director of homeland security and emergency maintenance. She came back
to basketball in 2000 when encouraged to become an official and over 25 years has worked Division I men’s and women’s, WNBA and NBA developmental league games. Jones has officiated in 11 Women’s Final Fours and in four games so far this
postseason including South Carolina vs. TCU in the Elite Eight.
Peggy Kennedy
Kennedy played for Northern Arizona in three of its earliest varsity seasons (1976-79), averaging still school career records 19.0 points and 11.3 rebounds. Her 45 points in 1979 also stands as a school single-game record. Kennedy played in the Women’s
Professional Basketball League in 1979. She was inducted into the NAU Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.
Lin Laursen
After earning her master’s degree at Arizona State, Laursen took a job teaching P.E. at Central Arizona College in Coolidge. She became basketball coach in 1974, winning 971 games and three national junior college championships in 34 seasons. Laursen is a
three-time NJCAA national Coach of the Year and in 2008 was inducted into the NJCAA Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The CAC basketball court is named after Laursen.
Aari McDonald
McDonald scored 2,041 points in three seasons at Arizona after transferring from Washington to play for Adia Barnes. She was Pac-12 Player of the Year and co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2020-21 when the Wildcats reached the NCAA Tournament championship game. She scored a school single-game record 44 points vs. Texas in 2019-20. The two-time All-America was drafted third overall, highest in Arizona history, in the 2021 WNBA draft and is going into her sixth pro season this summer.
Cheryl Miller
By hiring Miller as the Phoenix Mercury’s first coach and general manager, Jerry Colangelo gave one of the inaugural eight WNBA franchises an immediate face, identity and devoted X factor fan base that still exists. Miller was one of the greatest collegiate
players while at USC when the Trojans won NCAA titles in 1983 and ’84. She was 70-52 in four seasons (1997-2000) with the Mercury, who made the WNBA Finals in 1998. Miller is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Women’s Basketball HOF and FIBA HOF and is in the Mercury Ring of Honor.
Molly Miller
Miller potentially has years to add to her Arizona basketball resume but already has accomplished much. She was 117-38 in five seasons coaching at Grand Canyon including 32-3 in 2024-25 and the Antelopes’ first NCAA Tournament appearance. In her first season at Arizona State, Miller also guided the Sun Devils back to the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2019 and to a 24-11 record, most wins for a first-year ASU coach.
Nicole Powell
An Arizona native, Powell was All-America at Phoenix Mountain Pointe High School and named Arizona Player of the 20 th Century by the Arizona Republic. She was two-time Pac-10 Player of the Year (2002 and 2004) at Stanford and a three-time All-America. Powell played 11 seasons in the WNBA including on a championship Sacramento team in 2005 when she was the league’s Most Improved Player. She was Grand Canyon coach for three seasons (2020-23) and for three seasons at UC Riverside. Powell was inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame in 2018.
Karen O’Connor Self
Self came from New York to play basketball at Arizona State, not realizing that her calling would be in coaching. She averaged 13.3 points at ASU from 1987-91 including 19.5 as a sophomore. In 1992-93, Self began coaching at Chandler Seton Catholic High
School, where she has won 12 state championships in various divisions. She became Arizona’s winningest girls basketball coach in 2025, that total now at 352 over 34 seasons. Self was National Federation of High Schools Coach of the year in 2017 and inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.
Diana Taurasi
WNBA career scoring leader Taurasi was drafted No. 1 overall by the Phoenix Mercury in 2024 and is among the greatest pro athletes in Arizona history. She played all 20 of her WNBA seasons with the Mercury, winning championships in 2007, 2009 and 2014. Her multitude of honors include a record six Olympic gold medals, 2009 WNBA MVP, 14-time All-WNBA, five-time WNBA scoring champion and four-time USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. Taurasi, who retired after the 2024 Mercury season, will be inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame on April 9 and into the Mercury Ring of Honor on Aug. 16.
Penny Taylor
Taylor came to the Phoenix Mercury via a 2004 dispersal draft of the Cleveland Rockers, the same year as Taurasi out of college. The Australian played through injuries to make key contributions to all three Mercury WNBA titles. She was two-time All-
WNBA, two-time Olympic silver medalist and 2006 World Championships MVP. Taylor and Taurasi married in 2017 and have two children. Taylor is in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, FIBA HOF and Mercury Ring of Honor.
Charli Turner Thorne
After three seasons at Northern Arizona to start her head coaching career, Turner Thorne took a chance on turning around struggling Arizona State in 1996-97. She won a school record 488 games over 25 seasons with 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, two reaching the Elite Eight. Turner Thorne was two-time Pac-10/12 Coach of the Year and second in conference career wins. Since retiring from ASU, she is working in broadcasting and as a Phoenix Mercury scout. Turner Thorne was inducted into the
ASU Athletic Hall of Distinction in 2022 and Arizona Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.
