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The women's basketball program began at
the University of North Alabama in the late 1960s as part of the
physical education department, but has grown into a nationally
respected program that has made four trips to the NCAA Division II
national tournament since 1984. Initially competing against other
schools in competition known as extra-murals, the UNA women's
basketball began competing under the Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics for Women (AIAW) in 1975, with Susan Phillips as head
coach. Phillips coached the Lions from 1975-77 and was followed for
one year by Sharron Perkins.
Then, in 1978,
the Lions made their first move to regional and national prominence
with the hiring of Gary Elliott as head coach. Over the next four
seasons, Elliott compiled a 75-42 record that included the 1979-80
Alabama Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AAIAW)
State Championship and the 1981-82 AAIAW Northern Division
championship. Those years also produced the school's first women's
basketball All-American in Wanda Beckham, who was a second-team AIAW
selection in 1980. Major change came in
1982 when
women's sports were included for the first time as championships
under both the Gulf South Conference and the NCAA. It was also the
year that Wayne Byrd was hired to succeed Elliott as the fourth
women's basketball coach in school history. Byrd directed the UNA
women's program for the next 16 years, winning 232 games while
leading the Lions to one Gulf South Conference championship and four
NCAA Division II regionals.
The UNA women's
basketball program received its first NCAA Division II Top 20
ranking on January 16, 1984, when the Lions debuted in the poll at
No. 20. The 1983-84 Lions were ranked in the Top 20 for eight
straight weeks and advanced to the championship game of the Division
II South Regional. In 1993-94, Byrd led the Lions an NCAA South
Regional championship and a third place finish at the Division II
Elite Eight in Fargo, N.D. The Wayne Byrd era at UNA also included
three All-Americans, with LaConger Cohran and Brenda Mayes earning
national awards in 1985, and Serita Gauldin becoming the school's
first, first-team All-America pick in women's basketball in 1998.
In 1997-98, UNA guard Becky Mauck led the NCAA Division II in both
free throw percentage and three-point field goal percentage,
becoming the first player in Division II women's basketball history
to lead the nation in two shooting categories in the same season.
Mauck also established an NCAA Division II National Record for
three-point percentage in a season at 56.25.
With Byrd's
retirement in 1998, Jeri Porter became the fifth head women's
basketball coach in school history.
Jeri Porter
resigned as women's head coach at the end of the 2001-02 season to
take a job with Radford.
Flora Willie
led the Lady Lions to a 16-12 record in the 2002-03 season and
served as the UNA coach through the 2005-06 season.
Terry Fowler
became the sixth head women's basketball coach in UNA history in
2006 and took the first step in rebuilding the winning tradition
with a solid 14-14 mark in his inaugural season. UNA's Amber
Rutherford led Division II in free throw percentage at 93.7, and the
Lions returned to the Gulf South Conference Tournament for the first
time since 2003. |
