ASU women's basketball program alumni remembered their college glory days when they were honored before the Sun Devils took on the visiting Cincinnati Bearcats on Jan. 25.
The alumni ceremony took place amid the team's Big 12 schedule as the Sun Devils sit at 2-7 in conference play. As head coach Natasha Adair builds her program in its new conference, the Sun Devils took a minute to reflect on the program's storied past.
Present at the event was center Kym Hampton, who played for the Sun Devils from 1980 to 1984. During her tenure, the Sun Devils cumulated an impressive 69-25 record. They participated in the WNIT Championship game in 1981, finished as a runner-up, and went on to back-to-back appearances in the Sweet Sixteen.
She is the program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Hampton's legacy is cemented in the Desert Financial Arena rafters after ASU retired her number in 2014.
Hampton played for the New York Liberty from 1997 to 1999 after being drafted 4th overall in the 1997 WNBA Draft, the first-ever in league history. She participated in the inaugural WNBA All-Star game in the last season of her professional career before retiring in 2000 due to injuries.
"It's incredible," Hampton said. "For men and women — to still be the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in the history of Arizona State for this long. It's pretty special."
Promise Amukamara saw the floor in Tempe as a shooting guard from 2011 to 2015. Amukamara averaged an impressive 21.7 points, 10.8 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 5.3 steals per game her senior year.
Her time in Tempe correlated with two NCAA Tournament appearances and a WNIT bid. Amukamara played under longtime former Sun Devil head coach Charli Turner Thorne, who coached at ASU from 1996 to 2022.
Amukamara was drafted by the Phoenix Mercury at No. 36 overall in the 2015 WNBA Draft. She currently plays overseas and represents the Nigeria women's national team, crowning her the first ASU women's basketball player to make an Olympic team.
Playing for Nigeria, Amukamara has been adding championships to put by her Pac-12 Conference honors. She took home two gold medals in the AfroBasket, a women's basketball championship of 12 African nations.
"It's so awesome to be here," Amukamara said. "I've never had the chance to experience it, because I'm always overseas, but now, this time, it allowed me to be here and experience the whole Alumni Weekend and watch the girls play."
Amukamara and Hampton made their mark on the women's basketball program. Adair was thrilled the two former Sun Devils, among other alums, came to Tempe to celebrate the program.
"Oh, it was awesome to recognize them and continue to grow that," Adair said. "They've paved the way for us. To be able to be here and honor them was special. Some came to shoot around, and some went on a campus tour. They hadn't been back for a while. Any opportunity we can celebrate our alums and thank them for everything they've done, we'll always do that."
Edited by Jack Barron, Sophia Braccio and Natalia Jarrett.
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Aya is a senior studying sports journalism with a minor in communication. This is her third semester with The State Press. She has also worked at The Next, Cronkite News and Blaze Radio.