(Durham, NC) North Carolina Central University head women's basketball coach Joli Robinson has been selected as the 2001 WBCA Division II District 3 Coach of the Year, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced.
Robinson is now one of eight finalists for the 2001 Russell Athletic/WBCA Division II National Coach of the Year Award, which will be presented at a banquet on Wednesday, March 28 in St. Louis, Missouri.
After ending the 1999-2000 season with a losing 12-17 record, Robinson guided the 2000-01 Lady Eagles to the winningest women's basketball campaign in school history, finishing with an overall record of 25 wins, 6 losses. This year's squad established many new standards, including a 16-game winning streak (shattering the old mark of seven straight victories) and an invitation to the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional Championship (the first at-large bid for women's basketball in school history). They also posted an undefeated 12-0 record at home and won the CIAA Western Division Regular Season title for the second time in the last three seasons.
A native of Charlotte, NC, Robinson was also recognized as the 2001 CIAA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year, her second such honor in three years.
The end to the 2000-01 season was much brighter than the beginning for Robinson. Three days before the start of the regular season, Robinson tore her Achilles' tendon during a faculty/staff versus students basketball game on NCCU's campus. She underwent surgery and spent the first half of the season on the sideline in a wheelchair and on crutches. Still, she never missed a game. Even after the final contest of the record-breaking season (a two-point loss in the regional semifinals to the No. 1 team in the country), Robinson had a slight limp as she crossed the mid-court line to shake hands with the opposing team.
Robinson battled both on the hardwood with her team and in rehabilitation with her injury to achieve success.
NOTE: District 3 includes all of the institutions in the South Atlantic Region.