Uljana Semjonova

At around 7ft, the Latvian centre Semjonova, who died in 2026, was nearly unbeatable: two Olympic golds with the Soviet Union and a run of European Cup titles with TTT Riga across the 1970s and 1980s. She never played in the United States. Her dominance is a reminder that women's basketball had a global superstar long before the WNBA existed.