KNOXVILLE, TN – DeLisha Milton-Jones – the two-time Olympic gold medalist and current head coach of the Old Dominion women’s basketball team – was announced as one of eight inductees into the 2022 class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, announced the room on Monday evening. Milton-Jones helped write the game’s history with a decorated playing career at the college, professional and international levels and quickly became a rising star in the coaching ranks.
Milton-Jones was a four-year star in Florida, where she still ranks fourth in career scoring with 1,858 points. A 2007 member of the Florida Gator Hall of Fame, she received SEC honors in 1994 and was voted first-team all-conference in 1996. Her senior season was one for the record books. She averaged 18.6 points per game and led Florida in both blocks (48) and steals (87) en route to first-team All-American honors from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, Associated Press and Basketball Times. Milton-Jones was also named SEC Player of the Year in 1997 and received the Wade Trophy as the top female college basketball player. She led the Gators to the Elite Eight of the 1997 NCAA Tournament, where she lost an iconic game to eventual national runner-up Monarchs, and was named the Middle East region’s Most Outstanding Player. .
Portland Power picked Milton-Jones second overall in the 1997 American Basketball League. Just two years later, and after the ABL disbanded, she was picked fourth overall in the 1997 American Basketball League Draft. the WNBA by the Los Angeles Sparks. Her first stint in Los Angeles lasted five seasons, and she was a star in 2000 and a key contributor to the Sparks title-winning teams in 2001 and 2002. Her WNBA career spanned 17 years and 499 games, a record at the time. . of his retirement which has since been broken by his great compatriot Sue Bird. Milton-Jones would make another all-star team in 2007 and represented the US Olympic team in The Game at Radio City in 2004, an exhibition between the US Olympic team and a roster of WNBA stars who replaced a star traditional. Game. In all, Milton-Jones played for Atlanta, New York, Washington and San Antonio, in addition to Los Angeles. His 5,571 career points rank 16th in WNBA history. She also made stops in Spain, Italy, Turkey, South Korea, the Czech Republic and Russia to play professionally.
She was just as successful on the international stage, winning two Olympic gold medals with Team USA in 2000 and 2008 and missed the 2004 games due to injury.
Milton-Jones was introduced to coaching in 2005, when she was named interim coach of the semi-professional American Basketball Association Los Angeles Stars midway through the season. At the time, Milton-Jones was only the second woman to coach a men’s professional team. Her coaching career really began in 2016, when she was an assistant at Pepperdine. The following season, she took over as head coach at Malibu, and the program quickly exploded. His first season saw the Waves win 10 games, their most since 2012. The following year, Pepperdine had one of the best turnarounds in the nation, going 22-10 and qualifying for the WNIT Sweet 16 for the first appearance. in the playoffs in the program. the story.
Milton-Jones took the reins of Old Dominion ahead of the 2019-20 season and guided the Monarchs through some turbulent times in his first season. ODU won seven of its final nine games that season and won three games in three days to reach the Conference USA tournament semifinals as the shorthanded but determined No. 6 seed.
Old Dominion continued that momentum in 2021-22. The Monarchs currently hold a 19-5 overall record and own wins over a pair of Power 5 opponents at Auburn and Texas Tech.
Milton-Jones will join five Old Dominion legends in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame – Anne Donovan, Nancy Lieberman, Inge Nissen, Ticha Penicheiro and Marianne Stanley. She is the 13th active Division I women’s basketball coach in the Hall of Fame, joining Geno Auriemma (UConn), Gary Blair (Texas A&M), Doug Bruno (DePaul), Cynthia Cooper-Dyke (Texas Southern), Kamie Ethridge ( Washington State), Nancy Fahey (Illinois), Rick Insell (Middle Tennessee), Kim Mulkey (LSU), Dawn Staley (South Carolina), C. Vivian Stringer (Rutgers), Tina Thompson (Virginia) and Tara VanDerveer (Stanford) .
Joining Milton-Jones in the Class of 2022 are Debbie Antonelli (contributor), Alice “Cookie” Barron (veteran player), Doug Bruno (coach), Becky Hammon (player), Paul Sanderford (coach), Bob Schneider (coach) and Penny Taylor (international player).
The 2022 induction will mark the 23rd class of inductees to be honored by the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, which held its grand opening and inaugural induction in 1999. The Class of 2022 will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, receiving their coveted Eastman Trophy and Baron Championship Induction Ring on June 11, 2022, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tickets for the ceremony are on sale now. For more information on tickets, click here.
The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Directors serves as the selection committee to determine which individuals will be inducted each year and which groups will be honored as “pioneers of the game”. Voting is based on the nominees’ minimum requirements, which include a performance record, national or international recognition, and contributions to the game of women’s basketball.
For more information on the 2022 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Weekend and to purchase tickets, please visit www.wbhof.com.