Becky Hammon, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Penny Taylor in Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's class

ByMECHELLE VOEPEL
February 14, 2022, 10:19 PM

Former WNBA stars Becky Hammon, DeLisha Milton-Jones and Penny Taylor are among eight inductees who will enter the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 11, it was announced Monday.

They will be joined by current DePaul coach Doug Bruno, former coaches Paul Sanderford and Bob Schneider, contributor Debbie Antonelli and veteran player Alice "Cookie" Barron. The 2022 induction will honor the 23rd class for the hall, which opened in 1999.

Taylor is entering the hall the year after her Australian countrywoman Lauren Jackson did. Taylor won three WNBA titles with the Phoenix Mercury in a 13-season WNBA career. She helped lead Australia to two silver medals in the Olympics, and a gold and two bronzes in the FIBA Women's World Championship (now known as the World Cup).

Milton-Jones won two WNBA titles with the Los Angeles Sparks in a 17-season WNBA career. She was the Wade Trophy winner as a senior at Florida in 1997, and was on two gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic teams. She won two golds and a bronze with the Americans in the World Championship. Milton-Jones is currently head coach for the Old Dominion women, who are 19-5 overall and 9-3 in Conference USA.

Hammon is finishing her eighth season as assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, and then will move to take over as head coach of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces for the 2022 season. Hammon played collegiately at Colorado State, and then spent 16 seasons in the WNBA, split evenly between New York and San Antonio. She won a bronze medal with Russia in the 2008 Olympics.

Bruno is in his 36th season as women's coach at his alma mater, DePaul. He has a 756-364 career record and has taken the Blue Demons to the NCAA tournament 24 times. DePaul is 20-7 overall and 12-4 in the Big East.

Sanderford went to the Women's Final Four three times as coach at Western Kentucky and also won a junior college national championship in 1981 at Louisburg College in North Carolina. He was 453-189 as a Division I head coach, which included five years at Nebraska.

Schneider won 634 games as a collegiate coach, the bulk of those in 25 seasons at NCAA Division II power West Texas A&M. He also won five state championships while coaching girls basketball at Canyon High School in Texas. His son, Brandon Schneider, is current head coach of Kansas' women's team.

Antonelli is a former player at NC State who has been a basketball analyst for the last 34 seasons, including for ESPN. She has earned two Emmy awards. Antonelli is also on the board of directors for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, which memorializes her college coach.

Barron played for Wayland Baptist Flying Queens, who went 104-0 from 1954-57 and won three national championships. She was also part of the United States' gold-medal winning team in the 1957 FIBA World Championship.