Rebecca Lobo

More than 100 colleges recruited Lobo, but she chose the University of Connecticut due to proximity and her belief in its academic excellence.[6] She helped lead the Huskies to the 1995 National Championship with an undefeated 35-0 record. In her senior year, Lobo was the unanimous national player of the year, winning the 1995 Naismith College Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy, the AP Player of the Year award, the USBWA Player of the Year award, the Honda Sports Award for basketball, and the WBCA Player of the Year award. Lobo was awarded the prestigious Honda-Broderick Cup for 1994-95, presented to the athlete "most deserving of recognition as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year".[8] She was a member of the inaugural class of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program.[9] Lobo was named the 1995 Sportswoman of the Year (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation.[10] Lobo was the first player in the Big East Conference ever to earn first team all American honors for both basketball and academics.

Lobo was named to the USA U18 team (then called the Junior World Championship Qualifying Team) in 1992. The team competed in Guanajuato, Mexico in August 1992. The team won their first four games, then lost 80–70 to Brazil, finishing with the silver medal for the event, but qualifying for the 1993 world games. Lobo averaged 6.8 points per game during the event.[11]

Lobo continued with the team to the 1993 U19 World Championship (then called the Junior World Championship). The team won five games and lost two, but that left them in seventh place. Lobo averaged 7.7 points per game and recorded six blocks, highest on the team.[12]

In 1995 Lobo passed through tryouts to join the national team, which later became the US team for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA. Though her minutes on the floor were few, Lobo shared in the gold medal.

In 1997, the WNBA was formed and enjoyed its inaugural season, and Lobo was assigned to the New York Liberty during the league's first player allocations on January 22, 1997. The first season the Liberty fell to the Houston Comets in the WNBA Finals. Lobo suffered a setback in 1999, tearing her left anterior cruciate ligament and her meniscus in the first game of the season. In 1999, she was selected to the inaugural WNBA All Star team but could not play because of the injury.[13] In 2002, she was traded to the Houston Comets in exchange for Houston's second-round selection (26th overall) in the 2002 WNBA Draft. The next season she was traded to the Connecticut Sun, where she retired in 2003. Lobo also played two seasons in the National Women's Basketball league with the Springfield Spirit 2002 through 2003.

• 1994—Kodak First team All-America[6]
• 1995—Honda-Broderick Cup[14]
• 1995—ESPY Award–Outstanding Female Athlete[6]
• 1995—AP Female Athlete of the Year[6]
• 1995—NCAA Women's Basketball Player of the Year[6]
• 1995—Women's Sports Foundation–Sportswoman of the Year[15]
• 1995—Wade Trophy[6][16]
• 1995—Kodak First team All-America[6]
• 1995—Honda Sports Award, basketball[17][18]
• 1997—All WNBA Second team[6]
• 1997—WNBA Eastern All-Star team[6]
• 2010—Women's Basketball Hall of Fame[19]
• 2017—Basketball Hall of Fame
• 2019—UCONN jersey No. 50 retired[20]

Lobo was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2010.[21][22]

At the induction ceremony, Lobo was introduced by her college coach, Geno Auriemma who said, in part:

No one in all the years that I've been there, has had the impact on the court and off the court, that Rebecca has had and has continued both in the WNBA, as being one of the founders, both as a representative of our university, as a member of the board of trustees, continuing to promote the game on ESPN, and all the other things that Rebecca has done to further the role model that she is, for all the young people that looked up to her, emulated what she has always been, a great student, a great athlete, a great person, someone that I've cherished to have had the opportunity to work with, and to call my friend, and now to call my boss.

— Geno Auriemma, [23]

Lobo talked about touring the museum and seeing the exhibit of the All American Red Heads team. She talked about the influence of her grandmothers on her life, her parents, and others who helped her with her career. Then she related an anecdote about her daughter, epitomizing how things have changed for women in the sports world:

But two years ago, a year and a half ago, my oldest daughter, who was 4 ½, and my husband was watching UConn men, playing on the television in the living room, and my daughter walked in the room and looked at the TV and said to Steve, "Are those boys playing?"

And I said, "yes".

And my daughter said, "I didn't know boys played basketball".

— Lobo, [23]