Kerry Bascom

Kerry Bascom (born March 3, 1969) is an American former women's basketball player. She played forward and center for the Connecticut Huskies (UConn) from 1987 to 1991, scoring 2,177 points, a school record until broken in 1998 by Nykesha Sales. She helped lead the Connecticut team to its first ever Big East Conference regular season championship, first Big East Tournament championship (1989), first NCAA tournament appearance (1989), first NCAA Tournament win (1990), and the first ever NCAA Final Four appearance (1991). Bascom is the first UConn player to be named to a national All America team. She went on to play for the gold medal-winning World University Games team in 1991. During her sophomore year her team won the Class S (small) basketball championship, and during her junior and senior year her team was runner up in the Class M (medium) championship. Kerry finished high school as Epping's all-time leading scorer with 2,408 points. (ref: Epping High School Sports Annual Record Book). In 1987 Kerry was selected as a Parade High School All-American.

AAU Bascom had a friend from a rival school call her and invite her to try out for an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team in Massachusetts since they didn't have any in the New Hampshire area. Bascom and her friend were two of the 12-member team who all hailed from New Hampshire.

They traveled to Massachusetts every weekend that year, and the following year they started an AAU team in New Hampshire. This team ended up playing together for about five years. Of the 12 players, 11 of them went on to play for Division I colleges.

College Bascom's mom had been very sick with multiple sclerosis so Bascom wanted to stay close to home. She narrowed her college selection down to UConn, Boston College, Syracuse University, Rutgers University and Boston University. She chose UConn, which was 2½ hours away. Bascom was coach Geno Auriemma's first blue-chip recruit. Her freshman year was challenging as many of the upperclassmen had been recruited by the prior coach. Her freshman roommate was a senior, who would occasionally lock her out of her room.

When Bascom used to tell people she was going to UConn, some thought she meant Yukon—as in the frigid Canadian territory—instead of the University of Connecticut, because at that time the school was not well known. That would all change. In her time at UConn the team had a lot of firsts for the university. The Huskies won the first regular-season Big East title (sophomore year). They also won their first Big East Tournament championship. In her senior year the team went to their first NCAA Final Four trip. As at Epping, Bascom finished her career as the leading scorer in points, with 2,177. In 1998, Nykesha Sales broke the record via a controversial staged layup at the start of a game after suffering a season-ending injury. Bascom graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology from UConn.

The Bascom wore 24 as her uniform number. She played in Spain for one season.