Carol Blazejowski MSG Photos

The following year she joined the team at Montclair State College in New Jersey. A highly competitive player, Blazejowski - known as Blaze set longstanding records for the highest woman's career scoring average of 31.7 ppg and a single-season average of 38.6 ppg.

Blazejowski was a three-time college All-American (1976, 1977, 1978), and in 1978 she was awarded the first ever Wade Trophy, an award for college Women's Basketball Player of the Year. On March 6, 1977, Blazejowski scored a record 52 points against Queens College in front of a crowd of 12,000 at Madison Square Garden in New York, a collegiate record that still stands today.

In 1979, Blazejowski was a member of the first United States Women's basketball team to win a gold medal at the World University Games in Mexico City. She also played at the World University Games two years prior in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the United States team won a silver medal. Both years, Blazejowski was the team's top scorer, with 164 points total (20.5 ppg.) in 1977 and 129 points total (18.4 ppg.) in 1979. At the 1979 Pan American Games, she was part of the United States Women's basketball team that won the silver medal.

During her days at Montclair State. Montclair State Photos

Although she had been selected for the 1980 Olympic team, Blazejowski did not have the opportunity to compete when the United States government called for a boycott of the Moscow Games. That same year, she played for the New Jersey Gems in the Women's Basketball League (WBL), led the league in scoring and was named Most Valuable Player.

After a six-year stint in the front office of the National Basketball Association, Blazejowski graduated to a new chapter of sports history. On January 7, 1997, Blazejowski was named Vice President and General Manager of the WNBA's New York Liberty.

Long after her playing career the honors kept rolling in. In 1994, she was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts and in 1999 she was inducted into the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

Through her many achievements, Carol Blazejowski not only paved the way for many young women to compete in basketball, but also set high standards for those who participate in women's professional sports today.