Former Bears standout Lingor hired to round out Smith's staff

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach B.J. Smith has completed his staff by adding a former standout player at Missouri State.

Jenni Lingor, a four-year starting guard for the Bears from 2001 through 2005 who was drafted by the WNBA, will be in her first coaching position.

"I'm ecstatic to have her on the staff," Smith said. "I like everything about her. She was a great, player and she's won at every level. She'll really add a lot to our program."

Lingor had a career scoring average of 14.9 points per game at what was then Southwest Missouri State, including 19.4 as a senior. She shot 40.8 percent from 3-point range during her career.

A native of Tahlequah, Okla., Lingor was a three-time all-Missouri Valley Conference first team selection, and in her senior season she was named the MVC player of the year. She helped lead the Bears to a pair of MVC regular-season and tournament titles, along with the WNIT championship in 2005.

Lingor was selected in the third and final round of the 2005 WNBA draft by the Detroit Shock, but she was released during the team's final cuts. She played professionally in Sweden for a year before deciding to make the move into coaching.

"She'll do a lot of work academically with our players and a lot of film editing work, and she'll work with the guards," Smith said. "To have a WNBA draft pick who was that great a college player, I think she can really teach our players a lot."

Lingor replaces Katrina Colwell, who spent one season as an assistant at Southeast after serving as head manager the previous three years. She is now the head women's basketball coach at Labette Community College in Parsons, Kan.

Lingor will join Lisa Pace and John Ishee on Smith's staff. Pace is in her seventh year at Southeast while Ishee is in his first year after previously serving as a volunteer assistant for the program in 2002-03. He has 19 years of collegiate coaching experience.

"It's just a good opportunity to work with coaches that have so much experience in recruiting and game-type situations," Lingor said. "All three of the other coaches have such a great passion for basketball."

Roster additions

Two freshmen who had not been previously announced will play for the Redhawks this season.

Guards Mathilde Dufour from France and Mikal Bencomo from Clopton (Mo.) High School join two previously announced first-year players and six returning players.

Smith said the 5-foot-4 Dufour should have an impact as a rookie.

"She's really good, very athletic, typical of all the guards we've had over the years," Smith said. "I expect her to be able to come in and have an impact."

Of the 5-1 Bencomo, Smith said, "She'll be a typical freshman. It will be eye-opening for a while, but she comes from a winning program and has a good basketball background."

The other two rookies are Missouri junior college transfers, 6-2 forward Missy Whitney from Three Rivers Community College and Charleston High School and 5-7 guard Ashley Lovelady from Moberly Area Community College. Whitney was an All-American at TRCC.

"They'll play major roles for us," Smith said.

The six returnees are 6-2 senior center Lachelle Lyles, 6-6 senior center Joiceline Thesing, 5-6 sophomore guard Tarina Nixon, 6-foot sophomore forward Rachel Blunt, 5-7 sophomore guard Sonya Daugherty and 5-7 sophomore guard Szandra Pal.

Lyles and Nixon were both key contributors on last year's Ohio Valley Conference championship team, while the other four saw varying degrees of limited action.

Smith said walk-on guards Heather Diebold and Aisha Moreno, who both saw virtually no action last year, decided not to return to the program.