Assistant Coach Tonya Cardoza

In her 12th year as assistant coach is Tonya Cardoza, a former Kodak Honorable Mention All-American at the University of Virginia.
Since arriving at Connecticut at the start of the 1994-95 season, Cardoza has helped lead the Huskies to a 365-30 record over the last 11 years. The team has captured all five of its national championships under Cardoza’s leadership, plus seven trips to the NCAA Final Four. In BIG EAST play, the team has won nine conference tournament championships and 10 regular season titles.
Upon graduation from Virginia in 1991 with a degree in anthropology, Cardoza played professional basketball in Segovia, Spain for several months in 1992. At Virginia, she was a four-year letterwinner and helped lead the Cavaliers to four consecutive NCAA National Tournament appearances. In 1991, Cardoza led Virginia to a 61-55 victory over UConn in the NCAA Tournament Final Four semifinals with team-highs of 16 points and three steals. Virginia then lost to Tennessee in the NCAA Championship game, 70-67, in overtime.
As a senior in 1990-91, Tonya led Virginia in scoring (15.5 ppg) and tied Dawn Staley for the rebounding lead (6.1 rpg) while earning the following honors: Kodak Honorable Mention All-America; Kodak First Team All-District III; First Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference; NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team; and NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team. She also was a First Team All-ACC pick in 1988-89. She played 121 games in her Cavalier career, and upon graduation ranked as follows in the UVA career record book: No. 2, blocks (110); No. 3, steals (375); No. 6, points (1,622); and No. 7, rebounds (667).
Cardoza, a native of Roxbury, Mass., was an All-America and All-State basketball performer at Boston English High School. In 1997, she was inducted into the Boston English Hall of Fame, only the second woman to receive the honor.