Hello all, and welcome to another edition of Husky History. Each week this column highlights the accomplishments of a former UConn athlete and their ability to perform at the professional level.
This week’s edition focuses on Jessica Moore, the Husky in the paint for three of UConn’s eleven championship titles.
Moore, a native of Palmer, Alaska, was born on July 9, 1982. She attended Colony High School, where she would lead her team to two state championships. For all her accomplishments, Moore was honored as Alaska’s Athlete of the Year in her junior and senior years.
Like many successful athletes, Moore participated in multiple sports, one of them being volleyball. In addition to her two basketball state championships, she would add two more volleyball state championships to her impressive resume.
Following graduation, Moore would make the trip to begin her career with the Huskies in Storrs. Coming into a program filled with the likes of All-Americans Swin Cash and Sue Bird, Moore was granted a medical red-shirt year to gain another year of eligibility.
When her first season came around, Moore’s talent was proven valuable for the dynasty Coach Geno Auriemma was constructing. In the 2001-02 season, the center averaged 5.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and just under a block a game at 0.9.
Moore was a juggernaut all year long, as she played 39 games in the season which ranked first in the NCAA. She also swatted 37 shots, ranking seventh in the Big East. All of her impact helped the Huskies capture the Big East regular season title, Big East tournament title and the NCAA Championship.
Moore would come back in her second season ready to showcase the improvements she made. She averaged career-highs of 10.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 25.8 minutes per game. The counting numbers showed her value, but looking deeper showed more. The center ranked fourth in the Big East in defensive rating at 76.6.
Moore posted four points, four rebounds and three assists in the NCAA Championship win over Tennessee to capture the Huskies’ fourth title and the second one in a row. She was named to the 2003 NCAA Tournament All-Region Team.
Winning two championships in two tries was enough to prove Moore was born to be a winner, but she was not finished quite yet.
As mentioned previously, Moore was a juggernaut for the Huskies. In her first three seasons she would rank first in games played in the Big East and NCAA. It is often said the best ability is availability, and that could not be more true for this Husky.
In Moore’s third season, she averaged 9.5 points and 7.1 rebounds, with 2.1 of those being offensive rebounds. By the season’s end, she ranked first in the conference in two-point field goal percentage at 62.3 percent.
The Huskies and Moore continued their winning ways in the postseason. Moore posted 14 points and nine rebounds to help deliver UConn their third NCAA title in a row.
In her final season, the UConn women experienced a down year for their standards, as they finished second in the Big East standings and were eliminated in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament. Despite the early exit by their standards, the Huskies won the Big East Tournament title with the help of Moore, who tallied 12 points and seven rebounds in the win over Rutgers.
Moore would finish her career with averages of 8.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists. To this day, she ranks tenth in blocks in program history with a total of 102.
Following her career, Moore would join a lengthy list of UConn women to be drafted into the WNBA. At 23 years old, she was drafted 24th overall in the 2005 WNBA Draft by the Charlotte Sting.
Moore enjoyed a nine-year career playing for a variety of teams including Charlotte, the Los Angeles Sparks, Indiana Fever, Connecticut Sun, Atlanta Dream and the Washington Mystics. The center turned in her most impactful season with the Fever in 2009 when she averaged 4.6 points and 3.0 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game.
Following her professional playing career, Moore earned her Master’s degree at Kent State in communications with a concentration in public relations. She added this to her bachelor’s degree in political science that she earned at UConn.
Moore has been an employee at Nike for over four years where she began as a brand manager. She currently serves as the head of the brand marketing team within Nike and has been in this role since August 2023.
Moore embodies what it means to be a UConn women’s basketball star and has continued that work ethic throughout her professional basketball career and now in her line of work. Her three championship titles and accolades will forever be cemented in Husky history.