The Tribune

By RENALDO

DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IN HER third year at the helm, Yolett McPhee-McCuin continues to transform the Jacksonville University women’s basketball programme into a contender in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Dolphins currently have 15-10 win-loss record, 7-3 in conference play, and have already surpassed their win totals from the previous two seasons.

With four games left in the regular season, the Dolphins are ranked third in the conference behind Florida Gulf Coast (22-4) and USC Upstate (17-8).

“I am excited about this year’s squad,” McPhee-McCuin said on the Dolphins’ athletic website. “There’s definitely a different mentality with them and it may be because we finally have more upperclassmen than underclassmen. We are focused on doing the little things well and tuning up our defence.”

McPhee-McCuin inherited a Dolphins team that finished 11-19 overall prior to her arrival. In her inaugural campaign, she led the Dolphins to a 13-17 record, 10-8 in the Atlantic Sun. In year two, the Dolphins advanced to the semi-finals of the conference tournament where they finished the season with an overall record of 12-17, 6-8 in the conference. The tournament appearance marked JU’s second straight where it hosted a home quarter-final.

“The main difference from the past years to this one is the fact that there are three players in the programme that started with me,” said McCuin.

“They know what I want and expect. I also have a talented group of sophomores that gained tons of playing experience so they know the expectations as well.”

When she was announced as the Dolphins head coach in April 2013, she became the first Bahamian head coach in an NCAA Division I basketball programme.

The daughter of legendary Bahamian coach Gladstone “Moon” McPhee and educator Daisy McPhee, she became the third head coach in the 14-year history of Jacksonville women’s basketball.

A 10-year coaching veteran, McPhee-McCuin took on the role of head coach for the Dolphins after a three-year run at Clemson University, where the National Women’s Basketball Insider named her one of the top assistants in the nation.

This past off-season, she signed her first Bahamian to the Dolphins programme, Shalonda Neely.

The Grand Bahama native was a four-year starter at Arlington Country Day in Jacksonville, Florida. She averaged 12 points and 15 rebounds in her senior campaign en route to the team winning a Deep South Classic Championship.

At the national team level, McPhee-McCuin achieved a major milestone as she led the senior women to the Caribbean Basketball Championship title.

With the win, they qualified for the 2016 Centrobasket Tournament.

Behind several players currently playing at the NCAA Division I level, led by WNBA projected lottery pick Jonquel Jones, the programme seeks Olympic qualification for the country at the Tokyo games in 2020.