Girls basketball has long been among Delaware’s most popular high school sports, warming up the winter with top-tier players often involved in simmering rivalries.

For that, we can thank a steady run of talented players who starred on local courts before having continued success at the collegiate and professional levels.

With the United States nearing its 250th anniversary of gaining independence, USA TODAY Sports will celebrate the 250 greatest American sports figures of all time.

At the root of that are the high school athletes who became familiar names in their schools, communities and the state of Delaware while making headlines with their athletic exploits. The USA TODAY Network hopes to first spotlight those individuals.

Here in Delaware, we’re compiling lists of the best players in several sports. We recently published a collection of top Delaware football, field hockey and boys basketball players.

Now it’s the girls’ turn, but it’s a tough list to crack because of the prevalence of so many talented players.

These are our choices for Delaware’s 10 best basketball standouts, listed alphabetically:

Elena Delle Donne

Delle Donne was national high school player of the year as an Ursuline Academy senior in 2008, closing a career in which she was first-team All-State five times, won four state titles and scored a Delaware scholastic basketball record 2,818 points. She briefly attended UConn but returned home and, after a year off from basketball, played for Delaware. The 6-foot-5 guard/forward was a three-time All-American, sparked the Blue Hens to two CAA titles, the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2013 and scored 3,039 career points, fifth in NCAA Division I history at the time. Delle Donne was the second pick of the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky and was league rookie of the year. Delle Donne was league MVP in 2015 with the Sky and again in 2019 before leading the Washington Mystics to the WNBA title. She also won a gold medal with the U.S. in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Delle Donne is being inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this summer.

Adrianna Hahn

The 5-foot-6 guard was a 5-year starter and 3-time state Player of the Year at Ursuline, where she won state titles her freshman and senior seasons. Hahn averaged 19.1 points per game as a senior. She then starred at Villanova from 2015-19, scoring 1,503 points while averaging 11.6 per game. She set school records for free-throw percentage in a season (90.0) and career (84.3) and for making 315 career 3-pointers.

Monick Foote

Foote put Sanford on the map in girls basketball, making first-team All-State three times (1992-94), earning national high school player of the year and All-American honors as a senior and sparking Sanford to its first state championship in 1994. Foote scored 1,609 high school points. She then went to the University of Virginia, tying an NCAA Tournament record her freshman year with seven 3-pointers in a game. The 6-foot Foote was an All-ACC third-team pick as a senior, scored 1,315 career points and later played professionally in Israel.

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton

The 6-foot guard is in the 10^th season of a late-blooming but very productive WNBA career, back after missing 2025 with an injury. Laney-Hamilton was named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player in 2020 with the Atlanta Dream, made her first All-Star team in 2021 for the New York Liberty and played for the champion United States in the 2022 World Cup. Laney was a second-round pick, 17^th overall, in the 2015 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky out of Rutgers, where she is among the all-time leading scorers and rebounders and was a senior All-American. She started just three games her first three WNBA seasons and also missed one with a torn ACL. Still with the Liberty, she has been a full-time starter since 2020 and has averaged 9.5 points and 3.3 rebounds for her career.

Tiara Malcom

Malcomwas a two-time first-team All-State pick at Caravel and co-state player of the year as a senior. She then starred for Delaware, earning second-team All-CAA honors in 2003 and 2004 and first-team All-CAA and league Player of the Year as a senior. She the league in scoring with 15.5 points per game and also snared 6.8 rebounds per game. Malcom led Delaware to the CAA regular-season title, ending Old Dominion’s long dominance. Malcom also set a school record for career free throws made (535). She scored 1,545 career points and had 794 rebounds. Malcom played professionally in Portugal before beginning her coaching career.

Khadijah Rushdan

Rushdan was first-team All-State five times from 2003 through 2007 while starring at St. Elizabeth and earned several state Player of the Year honors. As a senior, she sparked St. Elizabeth to the state championship.  Rushdan was a Parade All-American in 2007 and finished with a then-state record 2,464 career points. She played on the U.S. under-18 team that won the 2006 FIBA Americas gold medal. The 5-9 Rushdan then played in a school record 135 career games at Rutgers, was first-team All-Big East as a senior and scored 1,288 career points. She played professionally in Israel and is now Delaware State’s coach.

Tyresa Smith

The 5-9 Smith was state girls basketball Player of the Year when she led Polytech to the 2003 state title. She then went to Delaware, the only school that offered her a scholarship, and was two-time first-team All-CAA and league Defensive Player of the Year. Smith scored 1,635 career points, No. 2 on the all-time UD list at the time, and sparked Delaware to the 2005 CAA regular-season title and a 2007 NCAA at-large tourney bid. As a senior in 2006-07, she led the CAA in scoring (19.8 ppg) while also averaging 7.5 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game.  Smith was a second-round WNBA draft pick but mainly played professionally overseas.

Penny Welsh       

Welsh was state high school Player of the Year for St. Elizabeth in 1978 and 1979. She led the state with 432 points and averaged 22.7 ppg for the Viking’s state-title team her senior year. The 5-10 Welsh then starred collegiately with two years each at Pitt and UNLV. She scored 1,824 career points and grabbed 960 rebounds those four seasons. Welsh was an All-American at Pitt her sophomore year and averaged 19.9 points per game and had 85 steals as a UNLV senior.

Val Whiting

Whiting was three-time state basketball Player of the Year at Ursuline Academy while sparking the Raiders to three state championships from 1987-89. Whiting then moved on to Stanford, where she was Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, an All-American and two-time Pac-10 Player of the Year while winning two NCAA titles. Whiting graduated as Stanford’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Whiting then played on United States teams and professionally overseas, in the American Basketball League when it was created in 1996 and later in 63 WNBA games from 1999-2002.

Leni Wilson

The 5-foot-11 Wilson was first-team All-State for St. Elizabeth in 1988 and 1989 and averaged 18 points and 18 rebounds per game as a senior. She then starred at Georgetown, getting a school record 948 career rebounds and scoring 1,285 points. She was second-team All-Big East in 1992 and 1993.  Her 313 rebounds as a senior were a school single-season Hoyas record. Wilson then played professionally in France before returning to Delaware to coach.                                       

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.