Nykesha Sales - College

College

Sales attended the University of Connecticut (UConn) as a business major from 1994-98. She was a member of the powerhouse UConn women's basketball team, "The Huskies".

In 1995 she helped lead UConn to a NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship as well as a Final Four appearance in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. She was named Rookie of the Year in 1995. In 1997 she was a member of the Gold medal USA Women's World University Games. In 1997-98 she helped the team make two Elite Eight appearances. In the 1997-98 season, she was named to the All-American first team, Defensive Player of the Year, and also the BIG EAST Player of the Year. She was also named to the 1996-97 and 1997-98 Kodak All-America teams. Sales was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program. She competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 1995 Jones Cup Team that won the Bronze in Taipei, as well as the 1994 squad that won the Gold.

Sales left college as UConn’s all-time leading scorer with 2,178 career points. She scored the record-breaking points as part of a staged controversial layup. Sales had suffered an injury that had essentially ended her collegiate career. UConn's next game (against Villanova University) began with Villanova permitting Sales to complete an uncontested layup. (UConn then returned the favor, allowing Villanova to score. The game essentially began with a 2-2 score before serious play commenced.) Auriemma felt bad that Sales did not already have the record, as he had made her sit on many occasions to avoid running up the score. The staged basket, while questioned in retrospect, was his attempt to make it up to her. He contacted the previous record holder, Kerry Bascom, as well as the Big East Commissioner to ensure that the incident would not be a problem, although the media was and to a degree continues to be critical of the move.

The record Sales broke was previously held by Kerry Bascom. Sales wore #24 in high school, the same number worn by Kerry Bascom at Connecticut. When Sales was considering going to Connecticut, she was respectful enough of Bascom's position, that she asked if she could wear #42, reversing the digits, rather than asking to wear #24.

Sales' record-breaking controversy was later parodied in an episode of the TV series King of the Hill, where an injured Arlen High School football player is allowed to score a touchdown to break the school's all time record that was previously held by Bill Dauterive despite protests from Bill's teammates (most notably Hank Hill); later in the episode Bill, exploiting a loophole that says he still has eligibility left because he failed to complete his senior year before joining the Army, returns to Arlen High and scores a touchdown to tie that record despite the protests of the injured player whose record Bill tied.