Shea Ralph

Shea Sydney Ralph (born March 12, 1978) two of which led to sitting out the 1997–98 season. Ralph was drafted by the WNBA Utah Starzz, but recurring knee problems prevented her from embarking on a professional career. Ralph started her coaching career as an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh in 2003.

Early life Shea Ralph grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she attended Terry Sanford High School. She was named the 1995–96 North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) Female Athlete of the Year. Ralph was named a High School All-American by the WBCA. She participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game in 1996, scoring twelve points. Despite barely eating, she still managed to score 3,002 points in her high school career. Another premier program, the University of Tennessee, was also very interested in Ralph. The head coach of Tennessee, Pat Summitt, was good friends with Marsha, so many felt one of those two schools would have the inside track.

Ralph called Geno Auriemma, the Connecticut coach, to ask what kind of role he envisioned for her at UConn. It is not uncommon for coaches to promise starting positions and a minimum number of minutes playing time for highly promising recruits. However, Auriemma responded, "I don't know. If you are really, really good, then you'll have a chance to play a lot. But if you suck, you won't play at all." Shortly thereafter, she made a recruiting visit to UConn, and told the coach she was ready to commit to Connecticut. She went on to have a great senior season in high school. After she earned the USA Player of the Year award, she was interviewed by USA Today, who asked about her recruiting decision. She explained, "Coach Auriemma was the only coach that told me if I was really good I'd play a lot, and if I sucked I wasn't playing." Auriemma read the quote in the paper and "almost [fell] off his chair." He called her to say, "Geez, Shea. Did you have to [get it] in the paper?"

Ralph attended the University of Connecticut from 1996 to 2001, wearing uniform number 33, and graduating with a B.A. in Exercise Physiology.

Shea had her best scoring year as a sophomore, with 16.7 points per game. She shot over 40% from beyond the three-point arc for that season, and 51.7% during the Big East season, setting the all-time Big East record for three-point shooting in a season. She was named the Big East Player of the Year. Ralph also won national awards, including Sports Illustrated Women Player of the Year, the Honda Sports Award in basketball, and a spot on the Kodak All-America team.

In her senior year (2000–01), Ralph was named to the Big East First team. During her four years she wore number 33, worn previously by Jamelle Elliott, current UConn sports announcer Meghan Pattyson Culmo and subsequently by Barbara Turner.

Her final game was memorialized in Jeff Goldberg's book Bird at the Buzzer, a game some have termed the "greatest women's basketball game ever played". After an excellent junior season, Ralph was less productive in the beginning of her senior season. The low point came in a game against Big East rival Notre Dame in January, a match-up between two undefeated teams ranked number one and number two in the country. Ralph scored only two points in that game. The rematch between the two teams came in the Big East Championship game. Ralph started out on fire. At one point, she scored eight consecutive points for the Huskies to help them turn a deficit into a slim 31–28 lead. A few minutes later she scored again, pushing her scoring total to eleven points on 4–4 shooting, along with six assists and three steals with over six minutes remaining in the first half. However, on her next possession, she drove to the basket and took a shot, twisting to avoid her defender. Then, "an agonizing scream pierce the air" which prompted commentator Robin Roberts to cry "Shea Ralph, oh goodness, oh no," recognizing that Ralph had yet again torn an ACL. At halftime Ralph told her teammates that she had just "tweaked" it, and she would be back. UConn went on to win the game on a buzzer-beater by Sue Bird, but Ralph's college career was over. Nevertheless, Ralph's overall tournament production earned her a position on the all-tournament team.

Shea was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program. She finished her college career with 1,678 points. That year off convinced her that she needed to overcome her anorexia, if only out of responsibility to her teammates. (now the Las Vegas Aces) of the WNBA. She opted to sit out the first year so her knees could recover, but she never ended up playing in the league.

Coaching career

Early career and assistant coaching After finishing her college playing career and reaching the conclusion she would not be able to continue as a professional, Ralph joined the Hartford, Connecticut school system in 2002 to implement a "strength and conditioning program at the high school and middle school levels." She also planned to work on a "disease education and prevention program, focusing on diabetes."

Ralph's third season was a significant step forward. The team won 23 games against 10 losses, an improvement of 11 wins over the prior season. The Commodores were 9 – 7 in conference play, their first winning conference season in over a decade. Vanderbilt earned an invitation to the postseason NCAA tournament with a game against Columbia as part of the First Four. They won the game against Columbia 72 – 68 but then dropped their first-round game against Baylor.

Ralph's fourth season ended with a disappointing overtime loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but it featured back to back 20 win seasons for the first time in a decade. More notably, Vanderbilt notched two significant wins against in-state rival Tennessee. The first, described by NCAA as “In a dramatic, down-to-the-wire thriller, Vanderbilt (15–4, 2–3 SEC) stunned Tennessee (15–3, 3–3 SEC) 71–70, clinching its first home win over the Volunteers since Jan.12, 2014”. They followed this up by knocking Tennessee out of the SEC tournament in the first round, resulting in two wins against Tennessee in the same season for the first time in their history.

Head coaching record

Awards and honors On December 19, 2023, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame announced the inductees for the class of 2024. Ralph was one of the 10 inductees in this class. She is now in the same Hall of Fame that has honored athletes such as Michael Jordan, Mike Krzyzewski, Arnold Palmer and Kay Yow. Her list of accomplishments included leading the UConn women's basketball team to the 2000 NCAA national championship, where she was named the Final Four MVP. She held 17 state high school records, including an average of 39 points a game when she was a junior on the high school basketball team. 1995 – Dial Award 1996 – WBCA All-American 1995 – USA Today National High School Player of the Year on the basis of her high school, college and coaching accomplishments.