Somers Resident, Former UConn Star Elected to Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

SOMERS, CT — More than 20 years after helping lead UConn to its first undefeated national championship season, "The Big Girl" is getting her just due with a Hall of Fame selection.

Kara Wolters, the 6-foot-7 center who teamed with Rebecca Lobo and Jamelle Elliott to form an awesome frontline for the 35-0 Huskies in 1994-95, will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame June 10, alongside former Southern Connecticut coach Louise O'Neal, three-time Olympic gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes, official Sally Bell, Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women founder Christine Grant and Middle Tennessee coach Rick Insell.

One of only nine women to have won an NCAA championship, a WNBA title and an Olympic gold medal, the Holliston, Mass.-bred Wolters emerged on the national stage with 31 points in the 1995 semifinal victory against Stanford. She was a two-time Big East Tournament Outstanding Player, and in 1997, she was the AP College Player of the Year and Big East Player of the Year. She finished her UConn career as the program's all-time leader in rebounds (1,286) and blocked shots (396).

After two seasons in the American Bsketball League with the New England Blizzard, Wolters was drafted in 1999 by the Houston Comets, where she played alongside former UConn teammate Jennifer Rizzotti. The Comets captured their third straight WNBA championship, defeating the Lobo-led New York Liberty 2-1 in the best-of-three finals.

In 2000, Wolters was a member of the United States team which captured the women's basketball gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

She and her husband Sean Drinan and their two daughters reside in Somers.

Photo credit: Alex Jensen