Claudia Defaria (1999)
DeFaria is considered as one of the greatest players in CCRI women’s basketball history. She was the nation’s 3rd leading scorer in ‘91-’92, averaging 24.2 points per game and she put her name in the all-time scorers list with 916 points. At that time, she became CCRI’s all-time assist leader and she tied the former record of scoring 38 points in one game. The first CCRI women’s basketball player to be named an NJCAA second-team All-American. In DeFaria’s sophomore season, she became the team’s co-MVP; she was also a two-time All-New England and an All-Colonial States Athletic Conference player. DeFaria went on to Rhode Island College after graduating from CCRI and she became the first and only player to score over 1,000 points in only two seasons. DeFaria scored 1,048 points, which ranks her 12th all-time in career scoring and is also seventh all-time with 592 career rebounds. As a senior at Rhode Island College, she was named the Little East Conference’s Player of the Year, First Team All-LEC and to the All-LEC Tournament team. She led the LEC in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 19.2 points per game and 11.8 rebounds per game, a double-double for the entire season. She was named a New England Women’s Basketball Association (NEWBA) Second Team All-Star and was named a Distinguished Student-Athlete by the Rhode Island Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (RIAIAW). She was inducted into RIC’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002, named to the college’s 75th Anniversary Women’s Basketball Team in 2005, was named to the Little East Conference Women's Basketball 25th Anniversary Team in 2011, was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, the Little East Hall of Fame in 2014, and she was also honored as the CCRI alum of the year in 2008. DeFaria is currently the Assistant Coach for Rhode Island College’s Women’s Basketball team and a member of the Rhode Island College Hall of Fame selection committee. She served 5 seasons as their associate head women’s basketball coach from 2008-2013 and in the 2019-2020 season, she served as their coordinator of women’s basketball operations. Before that, DeFaria was on CCRI’s women’s basketball staff and helped lead them to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament Final Four twice and the Elite Eight four times, while capturing five consecutive New England and Northeast District Championships.