Courtney Williams to have jersey retired during Alabama State game
Five years after her final game at USF, former women’s basketball star Courtney Williams is set to have her jersey retired during the Bulls’ Nov. 11 game against Alabama State, coach Jose Fernandez announced during a press conference Tuesday.
Williams is a member of the USF Athletic Hall of Fame, having been inducted as part of the class of 2020.
Throughout her career with the Bulls from 2012-16, Williams made her mark as one of the best players in program history, becoming the only player to log 2,000 points, 900 rebounds and 300 assists during her time at USF.
“Courtney had a great career here,” Fernandez said. “And she was a scholar athlete of the year also, so she did unbelievable things in the classroom and in the community [and] on the basketball court. She played at the highest level overseas, Euroleague, got drafted in the WNBA draft by Phoenix and went to Connecticut, now Atlanta. We’ll see where she ends up at her next stop in the WNBA next season.
“As a Bull, she takes pride in where she went to school and I thought when she was here she represented our school in a great way.”
The program’s record books have Williams’ name written all over them as she ranks second all-time in points scored (2,304), games played (138), third in rebounds (931), seventh in blocks (93) and ninth in assists (318). She also set USF’s single-season scoring record in 2016 with 763 points, breaking her own mark of 710 that she set the previous season.
Williams was also part of one of the most successful periods of the women’s basketball team, making a postseason appearance every year, including a WNIT Final Four appearance in 2014, and three trips to the second round of the NCAA tournament, tied for the program’s best finish.
Since graduating from the program in 2016, Williams has gone on to carve out a successful professional career after being selected eighth overall by Phoenix Mercury in the 2016 WNBA draft.
She played a handful of games in Phoenix before being traded to the Connecticut Sun where she spent three seasons and made a WNBA Finals appearance in 2019.
After being traded to the Atlanta Dream in 2020, the 2021 season was a breakout year for Williams as she made her first All-Star team averaging a career-high 16.5 points to go along with 6.8 rebounds and four assists.
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