Welcome to Hoop Queens, a new series spotlighting some of New England’s women’s basketball legends. This series aims to show the history of women’s basketball in the region through the well-known and untold stories of its all-time greatest talents. Follow along as we learn about who helped grow the game to where it is today.
If you're looking for the golden age of high school girls basketball in New England, it's hard to beat Connecticut in the 1990s.
The state was churning out stars like clockwork. Nykesha Sales blossomed into the No. 1 recruit in the country and would go on to be an eight-time WNBA All-Star. Jennifer Rizzotti (our first Hoop Queen) and Rita Williams were pro draft picks. All three grew up alongside the rise of UConn women's basketball, and all three helped the Huskies win their first national championship in 1995-96.
But there was another transcendent talent on the scene: Nadine Domond, who surprised even her closest confidants by choosing Iowa over UConn. But it wasn't just the Hawkeyes who beat the odds. Domond, now head coach at Morgan State, emerged from the Bridgeport blacktops during one of the city's darkest periods to become the nation's top high school point guard.
"That's why I think I appreciate teachers, I appreciate counselors, I appreciate those venues and those safes places," she said. "Because those safe places created Nadine Domond."
MORE HOOP QUEENS: Jennifer Rizzotti's lifelong legacy in Connecticut
