Standout Women’s Basketball Player Donna Abbott Dies at 52
November 28, 2022 11:12 AM | Women's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One of the all-time great players in West Virginia University women's basketball history has died.
Donna Abbott, a star for the Mountaineers from 1989-92 who led Huntington East High to a 1987 state title and was a two-time all-state performer, died last night in Huntington.
She was one of seven players with state high school basketball ties on West Virginia's first two NCAA Tournament teams in 1989 and 1992 during an era when the state's top prospects were going elsewhere.
Parkersburg Catholic's Mary Ostrowski and John Marshall's Amy Gamble chose to play at Tennessee, Doddridge County High's Susan Robinson became an All-American player at Penn State and Martinsburg High's Vicky Bullett was one of Maryland's all-time greats.
Abbott had offers to leave the state as well.
"I got a lot of letters from other schools that I just didn't answer," she recalled years ago. "I really wanted to stay close to home so my parents could see me play."
"Close to home" for Donna was actually Marshall, but playing for her home-state University that bears the state's name was her No. 1 priority.
Abbott became an immediate starting forward as a freshman on West Virginia's 1989 team that stunned Penn State in Rec Hall and defeated St. Joseph's and Temple to claim its first-ever Atlantic 10 tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. WVU, behind Abbott's 19 points and 11 rebounds, upset 19th-ranked Western Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before bowing out four days later at Virginia, led by All-American guard Dawn Staley.
Donna also tallied a career-high 37 points in WVU's 84-68 loss at St. Joseph's earlier that season.
The Mountaineers' next two seasons were filled with more success with Abbott and classmate Rosemary Kosiorek leading the way, Donna averaging a career-best 17.3 points per game during her sophomore season in 1990 and 15.8 points per game as a junior in 1991.
At that point in their careers, Abbott and Kosiorek, who became the school's first All-American player, were considered equals in terms of basketball reputations, and both were being promoted heavily for regional and national accolades. But prior to their senior year in 1992, the decision was made to concentrate more heavily on promoting the charismatic Kosiorek, which didn't bother Donna at all.
The soft-spoken and quiet Abbott was a tough, selfless, team player who wanted to win more than anything else, and she was comfortable assuming a supporting role to Kosiorek.
Despite playing through a chronic knee injury that required her to wear ice bags whenever she wasn't playing, Abbott averaged 14.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game for WVU's breakthrough basketball team in 1992.
After losing at second-ranked Virginia and suffering a one-point loss at 13th-ranked Western Kentucky, the Mountaineers won their next 22 games and got into the national rankings for the first time in school history following a 16-point victory over Marshall on Jan. 22, 1992. WVU's first appearance in the polls was an impressive 21-point home victory over Arkansas in which Abbott contributed 15 points and eight rebounds.
Her best game of the season came a couple weeks later against rival George Washington when she scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in an eye-catching 80-61 victory over the eighth-ranked Colonials.
By then, WVU had taken the state by storm and attendance at home games was doubling and tripling on a nightly basis as the Mountaineers climbed to No. 11 in the national polls.
The highlight of the season was West Virginia's last-second, 73-72 victory over 20th-ranked Clemson in front of a then-Coliseum-record crowd of 8,185 in the second-round of the NCAA Tournament. It was probably the first instance when event security and parking attendants were required to staff a women's home sporting event at WVU.
Abbott contributed 14 points and nine rebounds in that great victory.
She finished her career four nights later by scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against No. 1-ranked Virginia in an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game on the Cavaliers' home court in Charlottesville.
She ended her outstanding career with 1,656 points and 1,020 rebounds, making her one of just three players in school history to score more than 1,000 points and grab more than 1,000 rebounds.
Her 15.3 points-per-game career scoring average ranks ninth in school history.
Abbott was a three-time All-Atlantic 10 choice, earning first team honors during her senior year in 1992.
Donna was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame earlier this fall and had to make her acceptance speech via Zoom because of her declining health.
She was just 52.
Donna Abbott, a star for the Mountaineers from 1989-92 who led Huntington East High to a 1987 state title and was a two-time all-state performer, died last night in Huntington.
She was one of seven players with state high school basketball ties on West Virginia's first two NCAA Tournament teams in 1989 and 1992 during an era when the state's top prospects were going elsewhere.
Parkersburg Catholic's Mary Ostrowski and John Marshall's Amy Gamble chose to play at Tennessee, Doddridge County High's Susan Robinson became an All-American player at Penn State and Martinsburg High's Vicky Bullett was one of Maryland's all-time greats.
Abbott had offers to leave the state as well.
"I got a lot of letters from other schools that I just didn't answer," she recalled years ago. "I really wanted to stay close to home so my parents could see me play."
"Close to home" for Donna was actually Marshall, but playing for her home-state University that bears the state's name was her No. 1 priority.
Abbott became an immediate starting forward as a freshman on West Virginia's 1989 team that stunned Penn State in Rec Hall and defeated St. Joseph's and Temple to claim its first-ever Atlantic 10 tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. WVU, behind Abbott's 19 points and 11 rebounds, upset 19th-ranked Western Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before bowing out four days later at Virginia, led by All-American guard Dawn Staley.
Donna also tallied a career-high 37 points in WVU's 84-68 loss at St. Joseph's earlier that season.
The Mountaineers' next two seasons were filled with more success with Abbott and classmate Rosemary Kosiorek leading the way, Donna averaging a career-best 17.3 points per game during her sophomore season in 1990 and 15.8 points per game as a junior in 1991.
At that point in their careers, Abbott and Kosiorek, who became the school's first All-American player, were considered equals in terms of basketball reputations, and both were being promoted heavily for regional and national accolades. But prior to their senior year in 1992, the decision was made to concentrate more heavily on promoting the charismatic Kosiorek, which didn't bother Donna at all.
The soft-spoken and quiet Abbott was a tough, selfless, team player who wanted to win more than anything else, and she was comfortable assuming a supporting role to Kosiorek.
Despite playing through a chronic knee injury that required her to wear ice bags whenever she wasn't playing, Abbott averaged 14.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game for WVU's breakthrough basketball team in 1992.
After losing at second-ranked Virginia and suffering a one-point loss at 13th-ranked Western Kentucky, the Mountaineers won their next 22 games and got into the national rankings for the first time in school history following a 16-point victory over Marshall on Jan. 22, 1992. WVU's first appearance in the polls was an impressive 21-point home victory over Arkansas in which Abbott contributed 15 points and eight rebounds.
Her best game of the season came a couple weeks later against rival George Washington when she scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in an eye-catching 80-61 victory over the eighth-ranked Colonials.By then, WVU had taken the state by storm and attendance at home games was doubling and tripling on a nightly basis as the Mountaineers climbed to No. 11 in the national polls.
The highlight of the season was West Virginia's last-second, 73-72 victory over 20th-ranked Clemson in front of a then-Coliseum-record crowd of 8,185 in the second-round of the NCAA Tournament. It was probably the first instance when event security and parking attendants were required to staff a women's home sporting event at WVU.
Abbott contributed 14 points and nine rebounds in that great victory.
She finished her career four nights later by scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against No. 1-ranked Virginia in an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game on the Cavaliers' home court in Charlottesville.
She ended her outstanding career with 1,656 points and 1,020 rebounds, making her one of just three players in school history to score more than 1,000 points and grab more than 1,000 rebounds.
Her 15.3 points-per-game career scoring average ranks ninth in school history.
Abbott was a three-time All-Atlantic 10 choice, earning first team honors during her senior year in 1992.
Donna was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame earlier this fall and had to make her acceptance speech via Zoom because of her declining health.
She was just 52.
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