Lincoln University of Missouri Athletics

In 2019-20, Ayana McWilliams begins her fourth season as the head women's basketball coach at Lincoln University.

McWilliams coached Lincoln to its best start in program history in 2018-19, as the Blue Tigers won their first seven games and nine of their first 11 contests. One of McWilliams' players, Zhanesha Dickerson, finished second in the MIAA in both scoring (16.8 ppg.) and rebounding (8.3 rpg.) en route to being named an all-league honorable mention.

In her first season with the program, McWilliams helped rebuild Lincoln into a postseason contender. The Blue Tigers swept Lindenwood, earned key victories over Northeastern State and Southwest Baptist, and just barely missed advancing to the MIAA Women's Basketball Championship on the final day of the regular season. Lincoln continued its progression under McWilliams in 2017-18, improving in many defensive statistical categories.
 
McWilliams spent the previous five years as an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina Upstate, an NCAA Division I program. This past season, McWilliams helped lead the Spartans to a program-record 22 victories as well as a berth in the Women's Basketball Invitational tournament, USC Upstate's second postseason trip in the past three years. The Spartans won their first postseason game as a Division I team this spring and advanced all the way to the WBI semifinals.
 
As a member of USC Upstate's coaching staff, McWilliams helped the Spartans lead the Atlantic Sun Conference in eight statistics, including scoring, rebounding and field goals made. USC Upstate also finished second in the league in steals and third in both blocks and assists.
 
"I appreciate all the support that I've had to get to this point," McWilliams said. "I'd like to thank (Lincoln University president) Dr. Rome for this opportunity, and for trusting me to help carry on the vision of this college. I'm extremely excited about being a part of the Lincoln University family and even more excited about its future."
 
Before joining the Spartans, McWilliams spent two years as an assistant coach at Elizabeth City, where she helped turn a team picked last in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association's preseason poll finish second and advance to the semifinals of the conference tournament. McWilliams helped the Vikings win the CIAA Northern Division title in 2010-11.
 
McWilliams, who has also coached at Livingstone and Winston-Salem State, has developed 10 players into all-conference honorees. That includes Tee'Ara Copney, USC Upstate's all-time leading scorer (1,635 points), and Brittany Starling, the first player in USC Upstate history to record 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
 
McWilliams played two seasons at East Carolina before transferring to Brevard College, where she is the program's all-time leader in assists (296) and steals (288). McWilliams averaged 16.5 points, the second-most in school history, and was a two-time all-league honoree. McWilliams graduated from Brevard in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science and received a master's degree in sports management and sports coaching from the United States Sports Academy in 2011.