KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former Tennessee women's athletic director Joan Cronan and four-time WNBA All-Star Ticha Penicheiro are among the 12 finalists for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame announced Thursday.
The Hall of Fame will release its official 2019 class on Feb. 4. The class will be inducted June 8.
Finalists include: Cronan, Penicheiro, former Women's Basketball Coaches Association CEO Beth Bass, former Delta State guard Debbie Brock, inaugural NCAA Division I women's basketball committee chair Nora Lynn Finch, former coach Lucille Kyvallos, former Notre Dame and WNBA center Ruth Riley, former Wayland Baptist Flying Queens star Carolyn Busch Roddy, former Western Kentucky coach Paul Sanderford, former high school and Division II college coach Bob Schneider, former Kentucky star Valerie Still and former longtime Stanford assistant coach Amy Tucker.
Cronan was the Tennessee women's athletic director for 29 years, a stretch that included each of the Lady Volunteers' eight national championship seasons under Pat Summitt.
Penicheiro was a seven-time WNBA assists leader after starring at Old Dominion.
Brock was a three-time AIAW national champion at Delta State from 1975-77. Riley is an Olympic gold medalist and two-time WNBA champion who led Notre Dame to a 2001 national title. Roddy led the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens to two AAU national championships. Still is Kentucky's career scoring and rebounding leader.
Sanderford led Western Kentucky to three Final Four appearances and 12 NCAA Tournament berths. Tucker was a part of nearly 900 wins in 32 seasons as a Stanford assistant coach, associate head coach and head coach.
Bass was CEO of the WBCA from 2001-14. Finch chaired the NCAA Division I women's basketball committee from 1981-88. Kyvallos posted a 311-73 record in her college coaching career and served on the U.S. Olympic Committee. Schneider won five state high school titles and posted 634 wins as a Division II college coach.
