Friday, March 11, 2011

Barefootin': Coach with deep Virginia roots takes Elon to the postseason

Elon coach Karen Barefoot
 Karen Barefoot is in North Carolina now, but she left her (bare) footprints all over women's basketball in Virginia.

 She starred at Menchville High School in Newport News and was a three-time All-Ameican at Christopher Newport University (where she became the only player in college history to put up 2,000 points and 1,000 assists). She was the first women's basketball coach at The Apprentice School in Newport News and won a small school national title there in 2001, and from 2005-08 she was an assistant at Old Dominion.

 She left ODU in 2008 to become  head coach at Elon University in North Carolina, and today the school announced that the team - which went 19-12 this year and lost in the semifinals of the Southern Conference tournament - has been invited to play in the fledgling Women's Basketball Invitatinal, which debuted last year as an alternative to the WNIT. It will be Elon's first-ever D-I postseason appearance, and the first at any level in 29 years.

 The WBI bracket will be announced on Monday night.

 In a press release, Barefoot said: "Any time your team has the opportunity to play in mid- to late-March, you're making significant strides. ... This is our chance to show people what Elon basketball is about."

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