Two-time Olympic gold medalist and former ABL MVP Nikki McCray-Penson has passed away. She was 51 years old.
McCray-Penson was the assistant women’s basketball coach at Rutgers last season and the school confirmed her death Friday. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013.
McCray-Penson joined Dawn Staley as an assistant coach at South Carolina from 2008 to 2017. She was part of the Gamecocks’ first national championship in 2017.
McCray-Penson won gold medals with the US women’s basketball team at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. The 1996 team sparked the formation of the WNBA and ABL. She played in the ABL and earned MVP honors in 1997 before moving on to the WNBA. McCray-Penson was a three-time All-Star in that league while playing for the Washington Mystics.
She played eight seasons in the WNBA before retiring in 2006. She was an assistant coach at Western Kentucky for three seasons.
McCray-Penson then became the head coach at Old Dominion for three seasons, going 24-6 in 2020. She spent a year at Mississippi State before resigning for health reasons and returned to coaching at Rutgers last season.
McCray-Penson played at Tennessee from 1991 to 1995 under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt. The guard was a two-time SEC Player of the Year and a two-time Kodak All-America standout during her junior and senior seasons for the Lady Vols.
She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
Associated Press report.
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– Daily News Post