1998 BYU Hall of Fame
A four-time All-American and two-time High Country Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Tresa Spaulding Hamson is one of the finest basketball players to ever don a Cougar uniform.
The 6-foot-7 center came to BYU from Meridian, Idaho, in 1983. In her first season with the Cougars, she earned First-Team Women's Basketball Yearbook Freshman All-America honors and was named honorable mention All-America by Street and Smith. She also set the BYU record for blocks in a single game with nine.
As a sophomore she was named First-Team All-HCAC, Kodak Division I All-District VII, and American Women's Sports Federation Fourth-Team All-America. She also broke her own block shot record, recording 10 blocks twice that season.
The next year Tresa was one of 12 players selected preseason All-America by Women's Basketball Yearbook. She finished the season ranked third in the nation in points per game (25.5) and seventh in field goal percentage (63.6). She earned HCAC Player of the Year honors and was named Kodak All-District VII.
Proving nearly unstoppable as a senior, she scored 50 points at New Mexico State in late January for a new career best. She nearly matched that total the next week when she scored 47 points in just 27 minutes of play against Utah State in Logan, setting a new USU Spectrum record for points scored by any basketball player, man or woman.
Totals in the 30s and 40s became almost commonplace for Tresa that season; she finished as the nation's top scorer, averaging 28.9 points a game. She was also second in the nation in field goal percentage (65.2), and broke her own blocked-shot record with 11 blocks against Houston.
She earned her second-straight HCAC Player of the Year award, claimed her third-straight Kodak District VII award, and was named AWSF First-Team All-America with the designation Best Center in America.
At the end of her BYU career, Tresa held Cougar records for total blocks (424) and field goal percentage (.609). She is still second in all-time points scored (2,304), scoring average (23.4), career rebounds (980) and rebounds per game (9.8).
While playing at BYU, Spaulding was also active on the national and international basketball scene. In 1984 she was one of 17 players selected to try out for the U.S. Olympic Team and was named an alternate. She also played on the United States' 1985 World University Games Team and on the 1986 U.S. Select Team.
Named BYU's 1987 Outstanding Senior Female Athlete, Spaulding went on to play two seasons of professional basketball in Europe after completing her collegiate eligibility.
Tresa earned two degrees from BYU, a bachelor's degree in youth leadership and a master's degree in physical education.