[8] Initially recruited by the University of Texas, Swoopes left the school shortly after her arrival without playing a game and enrolled at South Plains College.

In 1993, Swoopes won the NCAA women's basketball championship with the Texas Tech Lady Raiders during her senior season.

Swoopes' 24.9 points-per-game average for her career is the best in school history; she also boasts three triple-doubles and 23 double-doubles, 14 of which came during her senior year.

[16] Source[17] Swoopes was named to the USA national team and competed in the 1994 World Championships, held in June 1994 in Sydney, Australia.

In a closely contested, high-scoring game, Brazil hit 10 of 10 free throws in the final minute to secure a 110–107 victory.

[18] Swoopes was selected to represent the US at the 1995 USA Women's Pan American Games, but only four teams committed to participate, so the event was cancelled.

[20] In 2002, Swoopes was named to the national team which competed in the World Championships in Zhangjiagang, Changzhou, and Nanjing, China.

[21] Swoopes was named to the National Team representing the US at the 2006 World Championships, held in Barueri and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Due to the birth of her son, Swoopes had a late-season debut for her career, playing her first game on August 7, 1997 (6 weeks after the season started).

In her debut game, the Comets defeated the Phoenix Mercury 74 - 70 with Swoopes playing for 5 minutes and recording no stats.

[26] Two days after her 40th birthday in 2011, sources for the Associated Press claimed that Swoopes was preparing to return to the WNBA in anticipation of an official signing announcement from the Tulsa Shock.

[29] On August 26, 2011, the 40-year-old Swoopes hit a buzzer-beating shot to edge the Los Angeles Sparks 77–75 and end the Shock's WNBA-record 20-game losing streak.

While no official announcement has been made, when Swoopes began blogging at the Shape magazine website during the 2012 Olympic Summer Games, she identified herself as "a former professional basketball player.

"[32] Swoopes' final WNBA game was played on September 11, 2011, a 94–102 loss to the San Antonio Silver Stars, where she recorded 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

In April 2016, Loyola announced that it was investigating Swoopes for alleged mistreatment, after the school newspaper reported that 10 of the team's players had either transferred or wanted a release from their scholarships.

[39] In July 2017, Swoopes returned to her alma mater, Texas Tech, hired as the women's basketball program's Director of Player Development, where her job included resuming work as broadcast color analysis for Lady Raiders games.

"[44] She and her partner, former basketball player and Houston Comets assistant coach Alisa Scott, together raised Swoopes' son.