By AJ Nelson, WHoopDirt.com staff writer
Congratulations to the following coaches who have been selected as the Week 5 WHoopDirt.com Coach of the Week presented by Pivot Analysis. These coaches are now eligible to receive the WHoopDirt.com National Coach of the Year Award presented by Pivot Analysis which will be announced at the conclusion of the 2019-20 college basketball season.
To nominate coaches for future weeks, please email [email protected] with your selection(s).
Previous weekly winners can be found below this week’s recipients.
The Week 5 winners are:
NCAA DI: Gary Blair – Texas A&M University
Coach Blair picked up a historic victory this week as his Aggies won two more games. A game winning lay-up with three seconds remaining pushed No. 11 Texas A&M past TCU on Wednesday night and set the stage for Coach Blair to pick up career victory No. 800. He did so in a 72-43 defeat of Houston on Sunday. With the win, Blair became the fifth active and 11th all-time coach in DI women’s basketball history to reach the 800-win mark. He now has an extremely impressive career record of 800-322, and has guided Texas A&M to 14 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. He will look to continue his success in Puerto Rico, as the Aggies face off against Georgia Tech at the Puerto Rico Coqui Classic on Friday.
NCAA DII: Missy Traversi – Adelphi University (NY)
In their first week being nationally ranked since the 2016-17 season, Coach Traversi’s squad remained undefeated with two hard-fought victories. The Panthers cracked the WBCA Top-25 poll at No. 21 and did not disappoint in their first matchup with the ranking, taking a 74-68 road win in a conference match-up with Pace. In their next contest, Adelphi trailed by eight points with 1:59 remaining in regulation to East Stroudsburg, but used a late run to force overtime before coming away with an 82-77 victory. Now 11-0 (4-0 NE10) on the season, the Panthers play their final game of 2019 on Wednesday at home against Molloy.
NCAA DIII: Mahogany Green – Hamilton College (NY)
Coach Green guided Hamilton to a pair of very different victories this week as the Continentals moved to 8-1 on the season. The week began with a dominant 92-53 win over Utica, in which Hamilton outscored their opponents 50-12 in the paint. The Continentals then traveled to take on William Smith, who they had previously dropped five straight games against. This time, however, a Hamilton jumper with 13 seconds remaining pushed the visitors to a 67-65 victory. The triumph extended Hamilton’s win streak to four heading into the break. They are back in action when they take on Bridgewater State at the Nashville Music City Classic on December 29th.
NAIA: K.C. Bassett – Sterling College (KS)
Coach Bassett and Sterling came away with two impressive conference wins this week to remain in first place in the KCAC. On Wednesday, the 16th ranked Lady Warriors dismantled Avila, who had received votes in the latest NAIA DII Coaches’ Poll, by a score of 93-72. After this dominant win, Sterling traveled to take on Tabor on Saturday. The Lady Warriors trailed by as many as 20 points in the first half, but used a huge second half and a buzzer-beating shot to complete the improbable comeback and take a 64-63 victory. Sterling is now 10-3 (8-1 KCAC) on the season and face off against Briar Cliff on the road on Thursday.
JUCO: Stephanie Murphy – Coahoma Community College
Coahoma Community College, led by Coach Murphy, won two games by a combined three points this week. On Monday, the Lady Tigers held off a late comeback attempt by Northeast Mississippi Community College to take a 67-65 victory in the MACJC North opener. Coahoma followed this up with an even more closely contested game against Baton Rouge Community College, coming away with a 60-59 home win to head into the break on a high note. The Lady Tigers, now 5-4 on the season, return to action against the same Baton Rouge squad on January 6th.
2019-20 HoopDirt.com / Pivot Analysis Coach of the Week Winners
NCAA DI: Dawn Staley – University of South Carolina
NCAA DII: Justin Payne – Georgia Southwestern State University
NCAA DIII: Melissa Kuberka – St. John Fisher College (NY)
NAIA: Courtney Boyd – Clarke University (IA)
JUCO: Bart Walker – Northwest Florida State College
NCAA DI: Dawn Plitzuweit – University of South Dakota
NCAA DII: Lynsey Warren – Ohio Dominican University
NCAA DIII: Kristina Baugh – UMass-Boston
NAIA: Dan Waldeck – The Master’s University (CA)
JUCO: Mark Leszczyk – Massasoit Community College (MA)
NCAA DI: Karl Smesko – Florida Gulf Coast University
NCAA DII: Steve Gomez – Lubbock Christian University
NCAA DIII: Meg Barber – New Your University
NAIA: Jeff Hans – Thomas More University (KY)
JUCO: Cayla Petree – South Plains College (TX)
NCAA DI: Bethann Shapiro Ord – Binghamton University
NCAA DII: Molly Miller – Drury University (MO)
NCAA DIII: Andy Yosinoff – Emmanuel College (MA)
NAIA: Steve Williamson – William Penn University (IA)
JUCO: Kim Muhl – Kirkwood Community College (IA)
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