
|
Entering her fourth season at the helm of the women's basketball program, Head Coach Lynne Roberts is looking to push her Tigers to the top of the Big West in search of Pacific's first ever conference championship. In just three seasons on the job, Roberts turned has the Tigers into conference contenders, finishing the last two seasons in fourth place in the Big West, earning Pacific automatic byes into the quarterfinals of the conference's championship tournament. Building upon the Tigers' successes in her second season, Roberts led the Tigers to a 14-16 overall mark and an 8-8 conference record in 2008-09. In one of the biggest wins in program history, Lynne and the Tigers defeated then undefeated UC Santa Barbara on February 29, 59-50. In handing the Gauchos their first and only conference loss of the season, the Tigers snapped a 13 game winless streak against UCSB and marked the first win against the Gauchos at the Spanos Center since the 2003 season. Pacific again finished the season one of the top scoring teams in the conference, finishing second to Cal Poly with 64.0 point per game average. Additionally, the Tigers finished No. 1 in rebounding, averaging 40.3 rebounds per game. Individually the Tigers proved to be at their best as again, three Tigers earned all-conference honors with Amber Simmons earning first team honors while Janae Young garnered second team recognition and Gretchen Tiernan was awarded the distinction of honorable mention. Five times throughout the season, Pacific earned conference player of the week honors. In her second season of leadership, Roberts put the Tigers in the top half of the conference and earned the team's first ever tournament bye by posting a 9-7 conference record. Overall, Roberts improved the Tigers to 14-16 on the year, marking the first time since the 2003-04 season Pacific posted double digit victories. At the lead, Roberts guided the Tigers to the No. 1 scoring offense in the Big West, posting 69.4 points per game, including posting a 96 point outburst on November 13 against Cal State Stanislaus, the most points scored in a single game by the Tigers since the 1993-94 season. Individually the Tigers proved to be at their best as three Tigers earned all-conference honors with Janae Young garnering second team recognition while Amy VanHollebeke and Kelsey Lavender each were awarded the distinction of honorable mention. Four times throughout the season, Pacific earned conference player of the week honors, marking the first time since the 2002-03 season the Tigers took home as many weekly awards. In her first season of work, Roberts posted an 8-22 record overall and a 2-12 record in Big West Conference play. Despite the losing record, Roberts showed that the Tigers are on the rise as she coached three players to individual post-season honors as Karen Dawkins and Jerise Freeman earned all-conference honorable mention honors while Jake Kelly garnered all-freshman recognition. The three all-conference selections marked the first time since the 2003-04 season that the Tigers had multiple All-Big West honorees. In addition to individual honors, the Tigers' new up-tempo style of play led to a conference best 6.43 three-pointers per game while finishing second in the conference with 9.4 steals per contest. On top of statistics, the Tigers broke through recent struggles picking up impressive road wins against St. Mary's and Southern Utah while defeating local rival Sacramento State and old Big West foe Utah State at home. Before coming to Pacific, Roberts spent four seasons at Chico State, building the Wildcats into a national power at the NCAA Division II level. During her final season, the Wildcats were 28-4 in 2005-06, advancing to the NCAA Final Four. She compiled a record of 86-31 in her four years at Chico State, leading the team to a school record for wins in each of her last two seasons. She earned California Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year honors in both 2004-05 and 2005-06, leading the Wildcats to first place finishes. In 2004-05 Roberts led the club to a 24-6 record and the first CCAA title in school history. Additionally, the Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament West Region title game. For her work, Roberts was named the WBCA West Region Coach of the Year. Lynne began her coaching career as part of a very successful Seattle Pacific University program, where she spent a total of nine seasons. After an outstanding playing career at Seattle Pacific, she became an assistant coach for the Falcons in 1997-98. She helped lead the team to a Pacific West Conference title, an NCAA Tournament West Regional Championship, and a trip to the Elite Eight. During her five years as an assistant coach at Seattle Pacific, the Falcons compiled an impressive 113-31 record and made five straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. During Roberts' playing career at Seattle Pacific, she received numerous honors. As a co-captain her senior year, she was named to the NCAA West Regional All-Tournament team and was selected second team all-conference her junior year. She holds six school records for three-point field goals, including most threes made in a season (82) and career (196), which are also Pacific West Conference records. Roberts graduated in the spring of 1997 with a degree in history from Seattle Pacific and added a master's degree in athletic administration in the spring of 2000. A native of Northern California, she attended Enterprise High School in Redding, where she earned 12 varsity letters and was named the 1993 Northern Section Player of the Year. |
|||||||||||||||||||