TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Stillman College women's basketball head coach
Alico Dunk has been named the NAIA Women's Basketball Coach of the Week, announced Jan. 30 by WHoopDirt.com and presented by Pivot Analysis. This is the second career honor for Dunk, who was also the WHoopDirt.com NAIA Coach of the Year following Week 1 of the 2022-2023 season.
Faced with a gauntlet of four games in six days, Dunk's Stillman team won all four games, including three Southern States Athletic Conference wins January 22-27. The Tigers averaged a 21-point margin of victory through the week (67.8-46.8) and finished the week seventh in the nation and first in the SSAC in scoring defense, holding opponents to 53.6 points through 18 games to close the week.
Stillman opened the week with a 65-44 road win at the University of Tennessee Southern on Monday, then returned home Tuesday to defeat Talladega College, 74-45, in non-conference action. The home stand continued Thursday with a 74-59 win over Brewton-Parker College anda 58-39 win over Middle Georgia State University on Saturday.
Stillman (12-7, 7-5 SSAC) held UT Southern to its second-lowest point total of the season (44) in Monday's win, and then went on to hold Brewton-Parker to 39 points, the lowest total allowed by Stillman during its six seasons in the SSAC. It is also the second-fewest points allowed in a SSAC game this season across the conference.
Offensively, six players scored in double figures for Stillman at least once during the week with four players averaging double digit points through the four games.
Dunk's Tigers followed the 4-0 week with an 86-47 win over Blue Mountain Christian University on January 29 to open this week's three-game schedule. The 39-point win is Stillman's largest win margin in its SSAC history. It was also Dunk's 175th career win.
Stillman will take a five-game win streak on the road this week when it travels to No. 15 Loyola University of New Orleans on Thursday, Feb. 1.
A native of Ayden, North Carolina and East Carolina University men's basketball alumnus, Dunk is in his seventh season as head coach of Stillman College women's basketball. He was previously the head coach at Elizabeth City State University. Dunk carries a 92-95 Stillman career record and 175-151 overall record into February. He is assisted at Stillman by coaches
KaTia May and
Harold Ingram.
Also earning WHoopDirt.com Coach of the Week honors were University of South Carolina's Dawn Staley (NCAA DI), Southern Nazarene University's Trent May (NCAA DII), Willamette University's Peg Swadener (NCAA DIII) and Gulf Coast State's Rory Kuhn (NJCAA).
All five coaches are now nominated for their division's WHoopDirt.com / Pivot Analysis Coach of the Year Award, an honor Staley won in 2020 and 2022.
