She turned him down. So he had to up the stakes, and told her to gain weight or she was off the team. The prospect of not playing basketball persuaded her to eat. Despite barely eating, she still managed to score 3002 points in her high school career. Ralph was the subject of a spirited recruiting battle, a natural consequence of her abilities leading to national high school player of the year honors. Many programs pursued her, but two schools appeared to have better chances than Connecticut. Ralph's mother, Marsha (Mann) Lake, was an All-American basketball player for the University of North Carolina. The North Carolina program was one of the better programs in the country. Ralph was growing up in North Carolina and her name was a "household word since she was eleven years old". Another premier program, the University of Tennessee, was also very interested in Ralph. The head coach of Tennessee, Pat Summitt, was good friends with Marsha, so many felt one of those two schools would have the inside track. Ralph called Geno Auriemma, the Connecticut coach, to ask what kind of role he envisioned for her at UConn. It is not uncommon for coaches to promise starting positions and a minimum number of minutes playing time for highly promising recruits. However, Auriemma responded, "I don't know. If you are really, really good, then you'll have a chance to play a lot. But if you suck, you won't play at all." Shortly thereafter, she made a recruiting visit to UConn, and told the coach she was ready to commit to Connecticut. She went on to have a great senior season in high school. After she earned the USA Player of the Year award, she was interviewed by "USA Today", who asked about her recruiting decision. She explained, "Coach Auriemma was the only coach that told me if I was really good I'd play a lot, and if I sucked I wasn't playing." Auriemma read the quote in the paper and "almost [fell] off his chair". He called her to say, "Geez, Shea. Did you have to say that in the paper?". Ralph attended the University of Connecticut from 1996–2001, wearing uniform number 33, and graduating with a B.A. in Exercise physiology. She was enrolled at the university for five years, with a medical redshirt in her second year, 1997–98. During the four years she played a full or partial season, UConn had a record of 130–10.