WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PIONEERS

Changing the Game

By USC Athletics Black History Month

February 5^th, 2015

By Caroline Deisley

Role Models. Icons. Athletes. Competitors. Women. Pioneers.

These are just a few words to describe the African-American women who created wide-open lanes for USC women’s basketball and beyond.

Whether they were shattering records or showing off their talents to the world, Cheryl Miller, Tina Thompson, Lisa Leslie and Cynthia Cooper-Dyke not only blazed a trail for African-American women in the sport, but also specifically put USC women’s basketball on the map, establishing and perpetuating the program’s rich history.

CHERYL MILLER

Cheryl Miller is the essence of USC women’s basketball. She won back-to-back titles for the team in 1983 and 1984, earning NCAA tournament MVP honors both years. Miller won the Naismith Award, which goes to the best college basketball player in the country, three times and was a four-time All-American. To this day, the 6-foot-2 forward still holds USC’s career records for scoring (3,018 points, third-most in NCAA history), scoring average (22.3), rebounds (1,534, sixth-most in NCAA history), field goals (1,159) and free throws made (700). She is also the NCAA record-holder for most points (814) and rebounds (474) in a season and the Olympic gold medalist is also the fastest player to the 1,000-point and 500-rebound mark in USC history.

Since retiring, Miller used her impeccable understanding of the game to transition into a new passion: broadcasting. The former star on the court became a star in front of the camera, reporting for ABC’s Wide World of Sports in the late 1980s before Turner Sports hired her as a sideline reporter and analyst. The former player has also returned to the game as a coach. Last April, former USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett, now serving in the same capacity at Langston University, hired her to coach its women’s basketball team.

Cheryl Miller (middle) celebrates with Patty and Pam McGee after winning the 1984 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

Cheryl Miller on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1985.

Cheryl Miller celebrates winning gold in the 1984 Olympics (Los Angeles).

Photo by: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images North America

LISA LESLIE

If Miller was the original face of USC women’s basketball, Lisa Leslie held that title in the 1990s and both had their jerseys retired at the grand opening of the Galen Center before the 2006-2007 season.

People understood Leslie’s importance from the day she first walked onto the USC campus. The 6-foot-5 forward led the nation in scoring and rebounding in her first year as a Trojan and became the first freshman in conference history to be named to the All-Pac-10 first team while also earning NCAA Freshman of the Year honors. Before leaving USC, she became the first woman named to the All-Pac-10 first team four times and earned the 1994 Naismith Player of the Year Award. The three-time All-American still holds the conference record for scoring (2,414) and rebounding (1,214) and finished her collegiate career as USC’s all-time leading shot blocker.

After college, Leslie continued her stardom in Los Angeles by playing for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. What Miller did for USC, Leslie did for the WNBA. She became the face of the league and, in 2011, was named by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. The four-time Olympic gold medal winner is the first WNBA player to ever dunk and was named league MVP three times. Leslie was a pioneer from the day she stepped foot on the USC campus and continued to pave the way for women’s basketball in Los Angeles before her retirement in 2009. Now, Leslie continues to be a face for the league by making special guest appearances on TV shows, modeling and working as an analyst for different networks.

Lisa Leslie, a 6'5" center, is the first player to dunk in a WNBA game.

Lisa Leslie holds the USC single season record for blocked shots (95).

Lisa Leslie stands on the podium with her fourth Olympic gold medal (Beijing 2008) in hand.

TINA THOMPSON

Leslie may have become the face of the WNBA, but Tina Thompson holds the distinction as the first WNBA draft pick, selected by the Houston Comets in the inaugural WNBA 1997 draft. Thompson went on to lead the Comets to four WNBA championships and is the league’s all-time leading scorer, ultimately joining Leslie as one of the players that fans voted as the Top 15 WNBA players in history. Thompson played in the league’s first 17 seasons, an amazing record streak that ended when the two-time Olympic gold medal winner retired in 2013. Thompson, who played alongside Leslie in high school and at USC, was a three-time All-American and scored 2,248 points as a Trojan.

Photo by
Todd Warshaw/Allsport. — Photo by Todd Warshaw/Allsport.

Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson embrace after winning gold in the 2004 Olympics in Greece.

CYNTHIA COOPER-DYKE

Like Thompson, Cynthia Cooper (now Cynthia Cooper-Dyke) was an all-star that played alongside a legend. Thompson had Leslie, Cooper had Miller. After a strong college tenure, Cooper blossomed in her post-collegiate career and joined Leslie and Thompson on the list of the fan-voted top 15 players in WNBA history. At USC, Cooper was part of the 1983 and 1984 NCAA Championship teams and the Woman of Troy won 114 of 129 games during her career. While these other pioneers broke boundaries at USC or across the nation, Cooper made a name for herself worldwide. She began her professional career in Europe and collected five medals representing the United States at international events, including a gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She eventually joined the WNBA Houston Comets and, with Thompson, helped them to a record four consecutive WNBA championships en route to four WNBA Finals MVP honors. Cooper led the league in scoring for three consecutive years and is the first WNBA player to hit 500, 1,000, 2,000 and 2,500 career points. She retired from professional basketball in 2004, but Cooper has since returned to where it all began, serving in her second season as USC women’s basketball’s head coach.