#Womenworthwatching

A Ualbany women’s lacrosse coach Katie Rowan Thomson will have her No. 21 jersey retired by Syracuse University. Rowan Thomson joins women’s basketball player Felisha Legette-jack and rower Anna Goodale as the first women to have jersey numbers retired at the school. Lacrosse coaching legend Gary Gait also was honored. Rowan Thomson, of Bethlehem, starred as a player for the Orange from 2006 to 2009. At Syracuse, she led the nation in scoring in 2008 on her way to 396 points (232 goals, 164 assists) in her career. She set Syracuse single-season records for points (142) and assists (69) in helping the Orange to the 2008 Final Four and was a four-time All-big East First-team honoree. Rowan Thomson was named America East Coach of the Year in 2021. The jersey retirements are part of the year-long celebration of 50 Years of Syracuse University Women’s Athletics. Legette-jack’s ceremony was held on Sunday at the Carrier Dome during the Syracuse-notre Dame women’s basketball game.

A Legette-jack’s University of Buffalo women’s basketball squad is a team to watch this year. Legette-jack enters her 10th season at the helm of the Bulls and has accumulated a 177-107 overall record at Buffalo and became the all-time winningest coach in program history in January 2020. She owns a 318-270 career head coaching record across 19 seasons as head coach.

A Dawn Staley, the head coach of the top-ranked South Carolina women’s basketball Gamecocks, sent a piece of her NCAA Championship net to every Black woman head coach in the country. Staley carries on a tradition set by Carolyn Peck, who sent Staley a piece of Purdue’s 1999 championship net. Read more at ESPN.COM.

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