Riceboro native Delisha Milton-Jones has achieved another milestone in her basketball career. On Saturday, June 11, the head women’s basketball coach at Old Dominion University was formally inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame at the Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville, according to a news report on the university’s athletic website.

On Jan. 20, Milton- Jones was announced as one of 12 finalists for the 23rd class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Three weeks later, on Feb. 14, she got the call that she would be a hall of famer.

The article, posted on ODU, stated Milton-Jones joins an elite club that includes former Lady Vols’ coach Pat Summitt, former UConn and WNBA great and current broadcaster Rebecca Lobo, former Louisiana Tech All-American and LSU coach Kim Mulkey, and Robin Roberts, the “Good Morning America” host who is a former women’s basketball journalist.

She also joins four former ODU All-Americans in the hall — Inge Nissen, Nancy Lieberman, Ticha Penicheiro and Anne Donovan, and former head coach Marianne Stanley.

“I’m so proud and honored and feel so blessed to have this honor at this point in my career,” she said.

According to ODU’s website, Milton-Jones, 47, has a sterling resume highlighted by 19 seasons of professional basketball.

She played for the University of Florida and was a Kodak All-American and SEC Player of the Year. Curiously, her final game for the Gators came against ODU, when the Lady Monarchs triumphed in an NCAA Tournament game.

She played for two seasons with the Portland Power of the American Basketball League before moving to the WNBA after the ABL folded. She was the fourth player taken in the WNBA draft and played two long stints with the Los Angeles Sparks while also playing for Washington, San Antonio and New York.

She was part of two WNBA championship teams, was selected three times to the WNBA All-Star team and was a twotime Olympic gold medalist.

After retiring, she went to Pepperdine for three seasons and quickly rebuilt a moribund program there. She was an assistant the first season and head coach for two. In her final season, Pepperdine won 22 games and earned a bid to the WNIT. She was assistant coach at Syracuse for a year before making the move to ODU in 2019.