WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – One of the all-time greats to lace it up for the Old Gold and Black is set to add another prestigious honor to her career accolades this weekend when Katie Douglas is inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday night. The NCAA and WNBA champion will become the 16th Boilermaker to be enshrined in the state basketball legion of honor.
Douglas was a part of one of Purdue's elite generations, winning the 1999 NCAA National Championship, reaching the 2001 NCAA National Championship Game and claiming three Big Ten Tournament titles, as well as regular season championships in 1999 and 2001.
A four-year starter for the Boilermakers, Douglas is the only two-time first team All-American in program history. In her junior and senior campaigns, she was named first team Kodak All-American, Big Ten Player of the Year and Purdue Female Athlete of the Year. She was a second team Academic All-America selection her junior year, first team Academic All-American as a senior and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Douglas amassed 1,965 career points during her time in West Lafayette, which currently ranks fifth most by a Boilermaker. The Indianapolis native averaged 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game over 135 games played and 101 starts. Douglas shot 44.5% from the field and 34% from distance.
Her 327 steals and 526 assists in her career continue to rank second and fourth in the Purdue history books, respectively.
Following her time at Purdue, Douglas embarked on a 14-year career in the WNBA, while playing overseas during the offseason. Douglas was taken with the 10th overall pick in the 2001 WNBA Draft by the Orlando Miracle, later the Connecticut Sun. She guided the Sun to the 2004 and 2005 WNBA Finals, before returning home to the Indiana Fever in a 2008 trade.
With her hometown team, Douglas won the 2012 WNBA Championship, while also reaching the finals in 2009. Douglas earned five trips to the WNBA All-Star Game, winning All-Star MVP honors in 2006. Her awards haul also included All-WNBA First Team in 2006, two All-WNBA Second Team nods, four WNBA All-Defensive First Team selections and one WNBA All-Defensive Second Team pick. She also added a Turkish Cup in 2011 and a Queen's Cup in 2008 to her trophy cabinet while playing overseas.
At the time of her retirement following the 2014 season, Douglas checked in the WNBA record book in eighth all-time in points (5,563), fifth in 3-pointers made (727) and fourth in steals (623). Her number 23 was retired by the Connecticut Sun.
Douglas arrived in West Lafayette following a standout career at Perry Meridian in Indianapolis. She tallied 19.3 points to go with 177 rebounds and 188 steals as a senior in 1997, when she was named an Indiana All-Star and a runner-up for Indiana Miss Basketball. She also collected first team all-conference, all-county and all-state that year.
Joining Douglas in the festivities at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame will be her national championship teammates Mary Jo Noon and current Boilermaker associate head coach Kelly Komara, who will be named to the Silver Anniversary Team.
Komara's impact on basketball within the state started as the 1998 Indiana Miss Basketball out of Lake Central High School. An Indiana All-Star as a senior, Komara took Lake Central to the IHSAA 4A Championship Game in 1998, while earning the Gatorade Player of the Year, all-state, all-conference, all-county and all-conference honors.
Alongside Douglas, Komara helped the Boilermakers win the 1999 NCAA Championship as a freshman and guided the team back to the finals in 2001. She won three Big Ten regular season title, two Big Ten Tournament Championships and made four NCAA Tournament during her time in West Lafayette.
Komara made 134 appearances with 99 starts to average 9.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. As a team captain in her senior campaign in 2002, she tallied 12.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Her 120 steals her senior season is still the single-season record at Purdue.
Komara was 112-22 during her playing career. Her senior class had the best winning percentage in Purdue history at 83.6%. Komara's class also holds the Purdue record for best Big Ten winning percentage at 84.4% with a 54-10 mark. The Boilermakers appeared in every AP Top-25 poll and reached the top 10 for 51 of 74 weeks. Komara finished with 23 ranked victories.
After a professional playing career, Komara has been on collegiate staffs for two decades. She returned home earlier this month to become her alma mater's associate head coach under fellow alumna Katie Gearlds.
Noon was on the roster at Purdue from the 1998-99 season to 2002-23. After redshirting during the national championship campaign, Noon appeared in 113 games with 65 starts, averaging 8.9 points and 4.3 rebounds in West Lafayette.
Noon garnered a pair of All-Big Ten nods in 2002 and 2003, as she crossed the 1,000-point mark in the final game of her career. Noon reached the NCAA Tournament all five seasons she was in West Lafayette, winning three Big Ten Tournament titles and three regular season championships.
Noon ranks in the top 30 in program history with seven double-doubles, 10th with a career field goal percentage of 50.2%. She led the team in field goal percentage and free throw percentage in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, while leading the team in blocks as a senior in 2003.