Rebecca Lobo set a Massachusetts state record for points while playing for the Southwick-Tolland Regional High School girls' basketball team. The school was just 13 miles away from the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“I went to the old Hall of Fame when I was a kid," Lobo said. "I understood kind of the magnitude of what it meant, never thinking that it was going to be something that was going to happen to me.”
Lobo is part of the Class of 2017 Basketball Hall of Fame inductees, along with 10 other players, coaches and media figures.
At a Thursday afternoon press conference at the Hall of Fame, Lobo said she was taken aback when she saw her photo on the wall.
"I'm just hoping that the people who have been with me on this journey, from the time I was in Southwick all the way through now, are taking pride in it," she said.
Lobo was part of UConn's first national title-winning women's basketball team in 1995, and the Gold medal-winning US Olympic team in 1996. She was among the first players in the WNBA, remaining in the league for six seasons, and now works as an analyst for ESPN.
Lobo will officially enter the Hall of Fame at an enshrinement ceremony at Mohegan Sun casino Friday night.
