WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NAMES JAMIE CRAIGHEAD ASSISTANT COACH

5/17/2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State head women’s basketball coach Dan Muscatell has named Jamie Craighead an assistant coach. Craighead comes to the Hornets after spending the past two years as an assistant at Portland State.
 
“I’m ecstatic to have Jamie join our staff,” Muscatell said. “She has a knowledge of the conference and is an experienced recruiter. She also has a terrific mind for the game, especially on the offensive end.”
 
A former player at Oregon, Craighead served as the Vikings’ recruiting coordinator and also worked with the post players.
 
In her first year at Portland State, she helped develop a pair of all-conference performers in guard/forward Kelsey Kahle and center Brianna Thompson. Kahle would post the most prolific freshman season in school history, tying for third among the nation’s freshmen in scoring at 17.3 ppg and tied for eighth in rebounding at 8.3 rpg. She would earn first team all-Big Sky Conference honors and was named the conference’s Co-Outstanding Freshman.
 
Thompson averaged 14.6 ppg and 7.3 rpg to earn honorable mention all-Big Sky honors as the Vikings had two all-conference honorees for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
 
Last season, Kahle averaged 18.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game en route to earning first team all-Big Sky honors for the second straight season. The team also posted its best record since 2002-03.
 
Prior to working at Portland State, Craighead was an assistant at Div. II powerhouse Seattle Pacific under the guidance of two-time NCAA Division II Coach of the Year Gordy Presnell.
 
Craighead served as Presnell’s top assistant for two seasons, and coached Seattle Pacific to a 99-75 win over Alaska Fairbanks on Dec. 4, 2004, while Presnell was on leave.
 
Seattle Pacific finished the 2004-2005 season ranked No. 2 in the nation.
 
While playing at Oregon, the Ducks made three trips to the NCAA Tournament and captured the 2002 WNIT championship her senior season.
 
She finished her career second on the school’s career list for three-point field goals with 182, and ranked seventh in three-point field goal percentage at 36.9 percent.
 
Muscatell was an assistant with the Ducks for her final three seasons.
 
Craighead was an honorable mention academic all-Pacific 10 selection in 2002. She graduated from Oregon with a bachelor’s degree in educational studies.
 
A native of Elma, Wash., Craighead attended Elma High School, where she was the Washington 2A Player of the Year and a four-time all-league selection. She finished her career setting school records for points (1,669), assists (653), steals (405) and blocked shots (168).