Kendra “Kitty” Wells, who helped lead McNeese State to consecutive Southland Conference Tournament Championships and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2011 and 2012, has been named assistant coach at ULM, according to an announcement by women’s head basketball coach Brooks Donald Williams. Wells, who became just the second player in McNeese women’s basketball history to score 1,000 career points and collect 1,000 career rebounds, officially joined the ULM coaching staff in early May.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Kitty to the Warhawk family,” Williams said. “She’s a winner, plain and simple. Kitty is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach. As a player, she brought an incredible work ethic and toughness every single day. I believe she has a calling to impact our game, and we’re very fortunate she’ll be able to do that right here in Monroe with our student-athletes. I have no doubt she’ll bring a winning, tough, relentless mentality to ULM Women’s Basketball, on and off the court.”
After completing her collegiate career, Wells has spent the last seven years coaching women’s basketball, including the 2018-19 season as an assistant at Mentorship STEAM Academy in Baton Rouge.
She previously served as assistant coach for four seasons at Scotlandville Magnet High School in Baton Rouge where the Hornets made three-straight appearances to the state playoffs (2015-17), including a trip to the state semifinals in 2017. During her tenure at Scotlandville, Wells helped tutor guard Celica Sterling, who signed a National Letter of Intent with Southeastern Louisiana.
Wells launched her coaching career as an assistant coach for two seasons at Barbe High School (2012-14) in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she helped develop forward Kristen Daniels, who signed an NLI with the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Over her last two seasons at McNeese, Wells helped the Cowgirls to a combined record of 52-15 (.776) and finished her career as the No. 2 rebounder in program history (1,237 career rebounds). She led McNeese in rebounding for four consecutive seasons, averaging a career-best 10.3 per game as a senior in 2011-12. Wells earned All-Southland Conference Third-Team and LSWA All-Louisiana Third-Team honors as a senior and became a two-time All-SLC Tournament selection.
She had a knack for making big plays when the game was on the line. Her baseline jumper with 3.6 seconds left gave McNeese a 70-69 victory over Lamar as the Cowgirls claimed their first outright Southland Conference regular-season title in 2011. The next year, Wells gathered the game-winning offensive rebound against Stephen F. Austin (60-56) as McNeese won its second-straight Southland Conference Tournament Championship while earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
A native of Port Allen, La., Wells earned her bachelor’s degree in health and human performance from McNeese in May 2012.
