Lajanea Kimbrough, who served as Director of Basketball Operations for the women’s program at McNeese State University during the 2022-23 season, has been named as the new assistant coach for the women’s basketball team at Missouri S&T.
Kimbrough served in the operations role at McNeese State during the past year after previously serving on the coaching staff at Central Methodist University, where she assisted the varsity program and was the head coach for the Eagles’ reserve team. Kimbrough assisted with the practice planning, player development and scouting during her tenure at CMU.
“We are excited to have Lajanea joining our staff. She brings a variety of experiences as she is coming from the Division I level and has played and coached in the state of Missouri,” S&T head coach Kira Carter said. “Her passion for serving student-athletes, work ethic and her enthusiasm were appealing to me in the interview process. She will be a great fit and addition to our program.”
“I am honored and thrilled to return to the great state of Missouri,” Kimbrough said. “Coach Carter has done a great job leading the program here at S&T. I look for to adding my experience and also learning alongside of her as we continue to bring the women’s basketball program to new heights.”
She also played for one season at Central Methodist during the 2018-19 season, where she averaged 6.1 points. 5.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists and a steal per game. She recorded the program’s first-ever triple double during that season when she had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a game against Peru State.
Prior to that season, Kimbrough played at Kaskaskia College where she averaged 14.9 points and 5.8 rebounds a game as a freshman in the 2015-16 campaign and at Eastern Arizona College and averaged 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game during the 2016-17 season. In the 2017-18 campaign, Kimbrough played at Lincoln University in Jefferson City and in 21 games, averaged 7.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per contest with 30 assists and 15 steals.
Kimbrough earned her Master’s degree in Education with an Athletic Administration concentration at Central Methodist. She is taking over the assistant coaching role previously held by Van Klohmann, who accepted a position as Director of Basketball Operations for the women’s program at the University of Evansville.
