TicketsCINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati women's basketball Head Coach Michelle Clark-Heard has been named to the 2020 Achieving Coaching Excellence College Basketball Coaching Honor Roll as announced by ACE this week. The second-year leader of the Bearcats program was one of 12 women's coaches selected among all divisions nationally to receive recognition for her efforts guiding her program.
According to ACE, recipients of this inaugural honor were selected because they "demonstrate tenements of coaching excellence that include on and off-court performance, community involvement, and serving as champions for college basketball, their coaching peers and the coaching profession". Dawn Staley (South Carolina) was named the Head of Class this year with she and Clark-Heard being joined in the class by Amaka Aguga-Hamilton (Missouri State), Adia Barnes (Arizona), Vanessa Blair-Lewis (Bethune Cookman), Kevin Herod (Talladega College), Ravon Justice (Sam Houston State), Serena King-Coleman (Fayetteville State), Trina Patterson (UNC Greensboro), Tomekia Reed (Jackson State), James Rice (Benedict College) and Jaida Williams (Coastal Carolina).
This year, Clark-Heard's Bearcats put together another remarkable season that saw the team finish with a 22-10 overall record and going 11-5 in the American Athletic Conference where they tied for second place, the program's highest finish in AAC play. In the American Women's Basketball Championship event, the third-seeded Bearcats advanced to the final for the first time as members of the AAC and played UConn in the final exactly 17 years to the day from UC's last conference tournament final. To get to that stage, the Bearcats were dominant at home throughout the year, posting a 14-3 record at Fifth Third Arena that included a 12-game winning streak, the second-longest in program history.
Additionally, Clark-Heard worked with a trio of individuals that accumulated several awards at the conference, region and national levels as Antoinette Miller, Angel Rizor and IImar'I Thomas, each of whom joined the program's 1,000-point club during the season, were honored. Miller and Thomas were named WBCA All-America Honorable Mention and WBCA All-Region, making them just the second and third players in program history to earn those awards. At a conference level, Thomas was a unanimous first-team selection while Miller (second) and Rizor (third) also were named all-conference with Rizor also earning the AAC Most Improved Player of the Year honor.
With the solid play of her team, the Bearcats won 20 or more games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2001-2002-2003 campaigns and just the eighth time in program history. The only head coach in program history to open her career with back-to-back 20-win seasons at UC, Clark-Heard's Bearcats have accumulated 46 wins in her first two season, the most in the first two years of a coaching tenure at UC as well.
// GET CONNECTED
Stay up to date with the team by following the Bearcats on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @GoBearcatsWBB.
According to ACE, recipients of this inaugural honor were selected because they "demonstrate tenements of coaching excellence that include on and off-court performance, community involvement, and serving as champions for college basketball, their coaching peers and the coaching profession". Dawn Staley (South Carolina) was named the Head of Class this year with she and Clark-Heard being joined in the class by Amaka Aguga-Hamilton (Missouri State), Adia Barnes (Arizona), Vanessa Blair-Lewis (Bethune Cookman), Kevin Herod (Talladega College), Ravon Justice (Sam Houston State), Serena King-Coleman (Fayetteville State), Trina Patterson (UNC Greensboro), Tomekia Reed (Jackson State), James Rice (Benedict College) and Jaida Williams (Coastal Carolina).
This year, Clark-Heard's Bearcats put together another remarkable season that saw the team finish with a 22-10 overall record and going 11-5 in the American Athletic Conference where they tied for second place, the program's highest finish in AAC play. In the American Women's Basketball Championship event, the third-seeded Bearcats advanced to the final for the first time as members of the AAC and played UConn in the final exactly 17 years to the day from UC's last conference tournament final. To get to that stage, the Bearcats were dominant at home throughout the year, posting a 14-3 record at Fifth Third Arena that included a 12-game winning streak, the second-longest in program history.
Additionally, Clark-Heard worked with a trio of individuals that accumulated several awards at the conference, region and national levels as Antoinette Miller, Angel Rizor and IImar'I Thomas, each of whom joined the program's 1,000-point club during the season, were honored. Miller and Thomas were named WBCA All-America Honorable Mention and WBCA All-Region, making them just the second and third players in program history to earn those awards. At a conference level, Thomas was a unanimous first-team selection while Miller (second) and Rizor (third) also were named all-conference with Rizor also earning the AAC Most Improved Player of the Year honor.
With the solid play of her team, the Bearcats won 20 or more games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2001-2002-2003 campaigns and just the eighth time in program history. The only head coach in program history to open her career with back-to-back 20-win seasons at UC, Clark-Heard's Bearcats have accumulated 46 wins in her first two season, the most in the first two years of a coaching tenure at UC as well.
// GET CONNECTED
Stay up to date with the team by following the Bearcats on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @GoBearcatsWBB.