CNNSI.com - SI For Women - 100 Greatest Female Athletes

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Use the menu below to read our biographies of the century's greatest sportswomen and then tell us who you think should be No. 1. Also, be sure to check out our expanded home page and our new issue which is on newsstands now.

90. Cynthia Cooper, Basketball

1963-
Two-time MVP of the WNBA

Cooper has helped the Comets soar. Manny Millan
Cynthia Cooper didn't discover basketball until age 16, but she was a quick study. In 1981, as a senior at Locke (Calif.) High, she scored 31 points per game and was named Los Angeles city player of the year as she helped her school win the state championship. The following year, Cooper landed at Southern Cal, where she earned All-American honors as a freshman and played a supporting role on the 1983 and '84 NCAA title teams that featured Cheryl Miller and the McGee twins, Pam and Paula. After graduating from USC in 1986, the 5' 10" guard began an 11-year tour of Europe, playing one season in Spain and the rest in Italy, where she led her league in scoring eight times. As a member of the US national team, Cooper won gold in 1988 and bronze in '92. In 1997, just as Cooper was thinking about ending her overseas career, the WNBA was being formed back in the States. Cooper became a member of the WNBA Houston Comets and subsequently led the team to three consecutive championships. She was also named the WNBA's MVP in each of its first two seasons.

They said it: "What I've accomplished, I've accomplished by myself. I was never anyone's favorite. Mine is a different adventure." --Cooper

--Susan Brody

Athletes were selected by Sports Illustrated For Women, Sports Illustrated and CNN/SI editors, writers and correspondents who considered the athletes' on-field performance and achievements, plus their contributions to women's sports. Because athletic achievement was a key criterion, women whose contributions were made solely in administration and coaching are not included.