Cal State Fullerton Women's Basketball

Perhaps the greatest basketball player in the history of Cal State Fullerton, former Titan All-American and assistant coach Eugenia Rycraw returns to her alma mater for her third season as an assistant coach to help lead Fullerton back to top of the Big West Conference.

As a player, Rycraw spent four years in a Titan uniform and still holds eight career records (and 10 single-season records) including points scored (2,415), scoring average (20.5 ppg) and rebounds (1,162). Her 428 career blocked shots are still an NCAA and Big West Conference career record and her 146 blocked shots in 1990-91 rank third on the NCAA’s single-season list.

The only basketball player (male or female) in Cal State Fullerton history to score more than 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds, Rycraw was a 1990-91 Kodak All-American and Big West Player of the Year, helping the Titans to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. She is only one of five women’s basketball players in Big West history to score 2,000 points and one of 95 players in NCAA history to reach the 2,000-point, 1,000-rebound plateau.

A three-time All-Big West Conference selection, Rycraw was named the Big West Freshman of the Year in 1987-88 and Big West Tournament MVP in 1990-91. She was named Big West Player of the Week nine times in her career, including a conference-record six times during her All-American season.

The Titans improved from 18-11 in her first season to 21 victories as a sophomore and a school-record 25 victories as a senior. With her on the floor, the Titans advanced to the championship game of the Big West Tournament in 1991 and the only two NCAA Tournament berths in school history in 1989 (first round) and 1991 (second round).

Rycraw was the Big West Conference scoring and rebounding champion in 1990-91 with 29.4 ppg and 12.3 rpg and led the league in field goal percentage for three consecutive years from 1988-91, joining Long Beach State’s Anita Maxwell as the only players in league history to accomplish that feat.

She spent time (1998-99) playing professionally in the United States for the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, averaging 2.3 ppg in 20 contests after a four-year hiatus from the sport. Originally placed on injuried reserve, she saw more playing time in the middle of the year and started the last four games alongside Lisa Leslie.

The following year, she worked in the front office for the franchise and was instrumental in developing a community outreach program targeting at-risk youth in Los Angeles and working with community leaders and law enforcement developing programs to reach the surrounding community.

Her career extended overseas as Rycraw spent two years (1991-93) playing professionally in Japan. In the first year of her contract, she helped lift her team from 10th to fourth place in the league in the first year of her contract. She was named the league’s “Shot Blocker of the Year” in 1992-93.

The tallest player to join the Titans during Jeremiah’s first stint as coach at Cal State Fullerton, Rycraw earned a multitude of honors out of Crenshaw HS in Los Angeles, selecting the Titans over Houston, Oregon and UC Santa Barbara.

She was named team MVP as well as All-City by the Los Angeles Times and All-Southern California. She averaged 12.7 ppg and 15 rpg and was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the top 10 high school athletes as a basketball player and track star. Rycraw was a two-time LA City high jump champion while finishing second as a junior and fourth as a senior at the California State Championships. She was the city high jump champion as a sophomore in New Brunswick, N.J.

Rycraw graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in psychology in 1994. She and her husband, Richard, have four children: Robert (11), Mia (9), Richard (8) and Janelle (3).