After battling injury adversity throughout her UConn women’s basketball career, Caroline Ducharme‘s resilience was rewarded with an opportunity to chase her WNBA dreams.

The Golden State Valkyries announced Wednesday that they signed the Huskies guard to a training camp contract, a one-year, nonguaranteed deal at the minimum salary. Players on training camp contracts are typically competing to make the final 12-player roster, and many are waived prior to the end of training camp.

Ducharme’s signing was announced alongside Texas Tech guard Bailey Maupin and Vanderbilt guard Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda.

“We’re so excited to be able to add Bailey, Caroline and Ndjakalenga to our training camp roster,” Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin said in a release. “Each of these players have shown a high level of competitiveness, a winning mentality, and a desire to improve. Excited to have them join us here in the Bay for training camp.”

Ducharme’s shot with the Valkyries comes after she averaged 7.4 minutes across 25 game appearances for the Huskies in 2025-26. It was her first full season back on the court after she missed nearly all of the previous two years due to head and neck injuries.

The 6-foot-2 guard came to UConn as the No. 5 prospect in the Class of 2021 and was a standout in her freshman year, averaging 9.8 points in 21 minutes per game and making 11 starts in 31 appearances. But Ducharme suffered her first head injury at UConn in February of that season, then missed 13 games with a concussion her sophomore year. She dealt with neck spasms that kept her out her for all but the first four games of 2023-24, and she wasn’t cleared to return to the court until late February 2025.

Though Ducharme never had to miss extended time in her redshirt senior year, the impacts of the head and neck injuries lingered. She missed six games due to migraines, and coach Geno Auriemma often described her status in practice as day-to-day.

With Ducharme’s signing, all of the Huskies’ 2025-26 seniors are set to compete in WNBA training camp. Star guard Azzi Fudd, Ducharme’s classmate and longtime friend, was drafted No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings, and Wisconsin transfer Serah Williams was traded to the Portland Fire on draft night after being selected by the Connecticut Sun.

In Golden State, Ducharme will reunite with former UConn teammate Kaitlyn Chen, who signed a training camp contract after appearing in 24 games for the franchise last season. The Valkyries selected Chen in the third round of the 2025 WNBA Draft, and though she was initially waived during training camp, she re-signed with the team in June and remained rostered through the end of the season. Former Huskies Gabby Williams and Kiah Stokes are also signed with Golden State.

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