Villanova Univeristy Athletics

As a high schooler, and on the heels of winning Suburban Player of the Year honors, Nikki Benedix told the Philadelphia Daily News that she didn’t pay too much attention to statistics or “seeing my name in the paper and stuff.’’ Yet Benedix couldn’t seem to stop cropping up. Her incredibly successful high school career at Downingtown bled right into her years at Villanova. 

Three times she scored more than 30 points and upon graduation, owned the record for steals by a senior (85) and 1,280 points. This despite admitting that the transition to Villanova and the far tougher Harry Perretta wasn’t easy. Given a perpetual green light in high school, where she scored more than 1,700 points and led her team to its first state title, Benedix had to learn to adjust to Perretta’s more focused style of play. 

Once she figured it out, though, she was every bit as much an asset. Twice she earned second team All-Big East honors, and in 2000 was inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame.