NCAA1 Basketball, News, Teams, Scores, Stats, Standings, Awards

Duffy Signs Contract Extension Through 2022-23 Season - 5 days ago

Miami University Director of Athletics David Sayler announced Thursday that women's basketball head coach Megan Duffy has inked a contract extension through the 2022-23 season. 'I am excited to announce the contract extension of Coach Duffy,' said Sayler. 'Miami basketball is in great hands under her guidance. It was an exciting first season that culminated in a strong showing at the Mid-American Conference Tournament and a postseason appearance. I am eager to see the continued growth of the program and the successes that will surely follow.' Duffy guided the RedHawks to the best win turnaround in the nation under a first-year head coach as Miami won 10 more games than a season ago to collect a 21-11 record on the year. She was one of just four rookie head coaches this season to post at least 20 wins, and the only female to do so. The Red & White went 12-6 in Mid-American Conference play, their most wins since 2007-08. This year's feat was particularly impressive as MU began conference play 2-5 but finished the regular season by winning 10 of its last 11. 'I cannot thank President Crawford and David Sayler enough for their commitment to women's basketball and our staff here at Miami,' said Duffy. 'It has been an honor to come in and help make impactful changes to our program, student-athletes and community. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead Miami basketball for years to come.' When all was said and done, the 'Hawks closed the regular season with the fourth-best record in the conference, earning them a first-round bye straight to Cleveland for the MAC Tournament. There, Miami topped rival Ohio, 69-66, to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2008. The Red & White's run came to an end when they fell to eventual champion and Sweet 16 team Central Michigan, 61-58. Under Duffy's tutelage, Miami produced two all-conference performers in Lauren Dickerson and Kendall McCoy. Dickerson was tabbed First-Team All-MAC while McCoy earned All-MAC Honorable Mention. The RedHawks improved statistically in a number of areas this season, one of the most notable being on the defensive side of the ball as they led the conference in scoring defense at 64.0 points per game. The program's successes this season were hardly limited to the court. Last month, Miami had a program-high eight student-athletes tabbed Academic All-MAC. This past summer, the RedHawks were named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Honor Roll after earning the sixth-best team grade-point average in the nation among all Division I schools. Most recently, the team was recognized as having the top GPA of any women's program at Miami. Duffy is set to bring in a talented recruiting class this fall. The early signing class from November features two in-state products in Alexis Straw and Kennedy Taylor while Vannessa Garrelts hails from Illinois. Most recently, the RedHawks signed Nia Clark to a National Letter of Intent.
Courtesy of: miamiredhawks.com

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Lance White

Lance White named Pitt women's basketball head coach - 6 days ago

University of Pittsburgh Director of Athletics Heather Lyke announced Wednesday afternoon the hiring of Lance White as head women's basketball coach. "When I first met Coach White, his genuine personality, energy and excitement about being at Pitt was evident and contagious," Lyke said. "He has a tremendous pedigree in coaching and has been an instrumental part of several successful women's basketball programs that have sustained success at the highest levels. I am confident he is more than prepared to build a program that brings great pride to our University. We are thrilled to welcome Lance and his wife, Melanie, and their children to Pittsburgh and the Pitt family." White comes to Pitt after spending the past 15 years at Florida State, where he helped the Seminoles to a 350-145 (.707) record, including 12 seasons with 20 wins or more. Since White's arrival at FSU, 10 players were selected in the WNBA Draft, eight Seminoles earned ACC All-Defensive team honors and 37 earned all-conference awards. He helped the Florida State reach the NCAA Tournament in 13 of the past 14 years, while the team won at least one NCAA Tournament game in its past 15 appearances. For his standout coaching efforts during the 2016-17 season, White was named the Women's Basketball Coaches Association National Assistant (WBCA) Coach of the Year. "The University of Pittsburgh has a storied history of athletic prowess and I am excited to build on that tradition," White said. "I am honored to be the head coach of the Pitt women's basketball program. I am grateful to Heather Lyke, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher and Bethany Wagner for the opportunity to lead a Power Five program. I look forward to working with the team, building relationships within the community and crafting a culture of success." Considered by Florida State head coach Sue Semrau to be one of the rising stars of the coaching profession when she hired him in 2003, White helped FSU reach new levels of success and brought an infectious energy to the program. He directed the Seminole defense and offense during his tenure in addition to being one of the country's top recruiters. After serving as assistant coach for the first nine seasons in Tallahassee, White was promoted to associate head coach in advance of the 2012-13 campaign. White came to Florida State from Texas Tech where he spent 11 seasons, including five years as an assistant coach with the Lady Raiders' top-10 program under legendary head coach Marsha Sharp. With White on staff, Texas Tech won three Big 12 championships and advanced to seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including five Sweet 16 and two Elite Eight appearances. He was a student assistant on Tech's 1993 national championship team and a graduate assistant coach for two seasons before being elevated to a full-time coach in 1998. While in Lubbock, White worked with some of the best players the game has ever seen, including National Player of the Year and three-time WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes as well as Plenette Pierson, who was named 2007 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year. White is the ninth head coach in Pitt women's basketball history and takes over a team that went 10-20 overall and 2-14 in ACC play in 2017-18. A 1996 graduate of Texas Tech, White earned his bachelor's degree in exercise and sports science. He went on to receive a master's degree in sports administration in August 1998. He attended Lubbock Christian University for three semesters before transferring to Texas Tech in January 1993. He is married to the former Melanie Smith, who is a professor at Florida A&M University. The Whites are the proud parents of Quentin and Vivian.
Courtesy of: pittsburghpanthers.com

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Ravon
Justice

New SHSU women's basketball coach named - 7 days ago

Sam Houston State has named Ravon Justice as its 10th women's basketball head coach in the 48-year history of the program. Justice joins the Bearkats after two successful seasons as the head coach at Prairie View A&M, her first two years as a head coach. 'I'm really excited about the opportunity to coach at a prestigious university as Sam Houston State,' Justice said upon her hiring. 'Being from Texas, I love recruiting Texas kids and being at Sam gives a great opportunity to do that, and to take a Texas team somewhere like I've had the opportunity to do at Prairie View.' As a head coach at Prairie View A&M, she helped resurrect and refocus the once prominent women's basketball program. In her first year, she had a school record five non-conference wins against teams from Conference USA, the Southland and the MEAC. Justice was able to lead the Panthers to an 11-2 home record in her first season, along with coaching a second team all-SWAC selection and second team Box-To-Row All-American selection in Alexus Parker. 'Prairie View is a great university with a great community and support, and in my two years there I've learned that if you do things the right way you can be successful,' Justice said. 'I'm loyal to trusting the process of doing things the right way. You have to be patient with that process, one that also involves learning how to wake up and win every single day itself." This past season, the Panthers posted a 12-6 SWAC record, a five-game improvement from the season before, and missed earning a share of the league title by one game. She led the team to the SWAC semifinals for the first time in three seasons. 'We are very excited that Coach Justice is going to lead our program,' SHSU athletic director Bobby Williams said. 'Going through this process, the overwhelming support and positive comments about her as a person and a coach were extremely high-level. We look forward to her elevating women's basketball program to the level that we all know it can reach.' Prior to coaching at Prairie View, Justice was an assistant coach at the University of Houston. In Justice's first year at Houston in 2010-11, the Cougars enjoyed one of their finest seasons in program history, posting a 26-6 overall record and returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2004-05 season. With Justice's guidance, Houston point guard Porsche Landry earned Conference USA first-team honors and became only the fourth player in Cougars' women's basketball history to tally more than 1,000 points and 300 assists during her career. Justice also made an immediate impact on the recruiting trail after taking over those duties following the 2010-11 season, as various recruiting services, such as Dan Olson's Collegiate Girls Basketball Report (No. 22) and ESPN HoopGurlz (No. 39), ranked the early six-player class that signed in November of 2011 among the nation's top-40 recruiting hauls. Justice joined the University of Houston staff after five seasons as an assistant at Houston Baptist. Before helping the Huskies transition from NAIA to the NCAA's Division I classification, Justice was a part of the 2005-06 team that completed an undefeated run to the Red River Athletic Conference's regular-season and tournament championships. HBU repeated as tournament champions the following season. The Huskies also made two trips to the NAIA Division I tournament during Justice's tenure with the team, including a trip to the quarterfinals in 2007. During her own collegiate playing career, Justice attended Nicholls for one year before transferring to Clarendon College. As a Lady Bulldog, she was named a junior college All-American in addition to receiving Western Junior College Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors. Following her time at Clarendon, Justice played one season at Washington State before finishing her college career at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha. As a senior at USAO, Justice averaged 19.3 points per game and captured All-Sooner Athletic Conference honors. She tallied the third-most points (521) in a single season in school history during the 2003-04 campaign, while setting school records in free throws (133) and free-throw attempts (214). Justice earned her bachelor's degree in sociology from USAO in 2004 and received her master's degree in liberal arts from Houston Baptist in 2009.
Courtesy of: itemonline.com

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