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These former UConn women's basketball players facing off as coaches – CT Insider
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma reacts during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Minnesota, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Tamika Williams-Jeter knew nothing would be easy for her when she arrived in Storrs to play for the UConn women’s basketball team as the nation’s No. 1 high school recruit 25 years ago.
Shea Ralph made sure of it.
“Shea was my lifting partner my freshman year and she’d be in the weight room and kick my butt,” Williams-Jeter said Tuesday. “But she taught my class from the beginning how to be tough and that we had to be tough. I took a lot from her.
“When I think about Shea I remember how she was able to persevere through so much adversity. There was so much pain physically with her because of her knees. It was like her body was broken. But she’d find a way to get back on her feet. One thing you knew about Shea was that she would never give in or give up.”
Connecticut’s Tamika Williams, left, and Shea Ralph (33) react on the sideline as during the second half as Tennessee’s Semeka Randall (21) walks past during the Women’s Final Four Championship at the First Union Center in Philadelphia on Sunday, April 2, 2000.(AP Photo/Chris Gardner)
During their three years as teammates, the Huskies went 97-9 winning three Big East regular-season and tournament titles along with the 2000 national championship.
They’ll be together again Wednesday afternoon when Dayton, coached by Williams-Jeter, travels to Nashville to meet Ralph-coached Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium.
“It’s fun and I’m sure it will be like a big reunion since they were teammates,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Monday night after his Huskies defeated Butler 88-62 at the XL Center. “They have a lot of memories together, all good memories. They’re both competitive as hell and it’s going to be something.”
The matchup will mark the third time that two of Auriemma’s former players will face off as Division I head coaches.
The first two games involved Princeton and coach Carla Berube. The Tigers defeated George Washington University coached by her former teammate on the Huskies’ 1995 national championship team, 1996 Wade Trophy winner Jennifer Rizzotti, 75-50 in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 10, 2019. A month later on Dec. 10, 2019, Princeton defeated Hartford and coach Morgan Valley 73-42 at Jadwin Gym in New Jersey.
In her third season at Vanderbilt, Ralph has the Commodores off to their best start since the 2016-17 season with a 10-1 record. Their only loss is to No. 3 North Carolina State. The former UConn All-American and assistant coach, part of seven national championships with the Huskies, guided Vanderbilt to its first postseason appearance since 2014 in her first season as it reached the third round of the WNIT.
Dayton Head Coach Tamika Williams-Jeter during women’s college basketball action against UConn at the XL Center Arena in Hartford, Conn., on Wednesday November 8, 2023.
Ralph was on a recruiting trip Tuesday and was unavailable for comment.
Williams-Jeter, in her second season at her hometown university, has the Flyers at 6-5 coming off back-to-back wins over Miami of Ohio and Ohio Dominican. Dayton opened the season with a 102-58 loss to UConn on Nov. 8 in Hartford.
“I like where we are right now,” Williams-Jeter said. “But we know we’re going to be in for a battle. Vanderbilt is tough defensively and they rebound well. This is going to be a good game for us going into the break.”
Dayton will return to action on Dec. 30 when it hosts Duquesne in its Atlantic-10 opener. Vanderbilt entertains Fairleigh Dickinson Dec. 29 and Radford Dec. 31 before starting SEC play at Mississippi State on Jan. 4.
Auriemma — who is 79-0 against opponents that have one of his former players, former assistant coaches, or former graduate assistants on their coaching staff — will be busy with the Huskies Wednesday night as they take on Toronto Metropolitan in a homecoming game for Canadian Aaliyah Edwards. But he’ll be paying attention to what happens in Nashville earlier in the day.
Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph directs her team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)
“Tamika’s team plays with a lot of energy, a lot like her,” Auriemma said. “That’s a compliment when a team takes on the personality of their coach. And Vanderbilt is as hard as nails defensively. When they played Butler, they held them to 39. They do a lot of interesting things defensively. They’re recruiting better than Vanderbilt had recently.
“It’s going to be a good one. I can’t wait to get back home and watch the tape.”
