Girls basketball camp in Wilmington, NC on campus of UNCW.

About Ann Hancock

Former UNC Chapel Hill assistant coach Ann Hancock begins her eighth season as head coach of the UNC Wilmington women’s basketball program in 2007-08. Hancock, a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., took over the helm of the Seahawk women’s basketball program on June 22, 2000. She served as an assistant for Sylvia Hatchell’s UNC Chapel Hill staff for eight seasons following a stellar playing career at Wingate University.

Last season Hancock directed a team which played with only nine players for a majority of the season to an 8-23 record and to an upset win over Towson in the CAA Tournament, marking the first time since 2002 that the Seahawks had won a game in the tournament. Her squad also captured the 2006 Hilton Wilmington Riverside Classic, defeating Furman in the finals. In addition, senior Lori Drake capped her career off with an impressive season, earning Third Team All-CAA, while nearly doubling her averages in both points and rebounds from her junior year.

As has become the standard under Hancock, off the court the Seahawks had two players named to the CAA All-Academic team in Bethany Stranges and Stephanie Fernald.
In 2005-06, she guided a team which had six freshmen and no seniors to a 15-13 overall record. In addition, the Seahawks, who were selected to finish 11th in the CAA Preseason Poll, ended with a 9-9 record and in sixth place. Rookie Sahsha Taylor had a remarkable season, earning CAA Rookie of the Week five times during the year and was also named to the CAA All-Rookie Team.

Off the court, Michaela Vezenkova received the CAA Dean Ehlers Leadership Award, given to the top student-athlete in the CAA who best combines academics, community service and athletics. Vezenkova also joined teammates Stephanie Fernald and Bethany Stranges on the CAA All-Academic Team.

In 2004-05, the Seahawks won six Colonial Athletic Association Rookie-of-the-Week awards and Stranges and Vezenkova were selected to the league’s All-Academic Team.
While under the guidance of Hancock, the UNCW women’s basketball program has accomplished many firsts. After the 2003-04 campaign Cherie Lea was honored as the institution’s first Dean Ehlers Award recipient in women’s basketball.

The 2002-03 campaign saw the Lady Seahawks first 20-win campaign as a member of the NCAA. The squad was 22-6 overall and ranked in the Top 10 nationally in scoring defense and defensive field goal percentage. Hancock was named CAA Coach-of-the-Year as a result.

A graduate of East Bladen High School in Elizabethtown, N.C., Hancock was an integral part of Hatchell’s UNC Chapel Hill staff from 1992-00. She helped the Tar Heels win the national championship in 1994 and capture Atlantic Coast Conference titles in 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998. UNC Chapel Hill went 20-13 in 1999-00, reaching the NCAA’s “Sweet Sixteen.”
As a player at Wingate, Hancock excelled both on and off the court. She was a four-time All-Conference and All-District performer, leading Coach Johnny Jacumin and the Bulldogs to a combined 103-23 record and four trips to the NAIA National Tournament during her stint.
Hancock was team captain for three years and led Wingate in scoring as a senior with 19.9 points per game. She was one of 52 regional candidates for the second annual NCAA Woman-of-the-Year award in recognition of her achievements in athletics, academics and community service. Moreover, Hancock was the 1991-92 NCAA Division II female winner of the Woody Hayes National Scholar-Athlete Award, sponsored by the University Sertoma Club in Columbus, Ohio, and also received the 1992 South Atlantic Conference President Award as the top student-athlete in the conference.

In addition to her academic and athletic success at Wingate, Hancock served as senior class vice-president and was active in volunteer work. She won the Budd E. and Ethel K. Smith Cup, which is awarded to the graduating senior who has made an outstanding contribution through leadership. In 1998, she was inducted into the Wingate Athletic Hall of Fame.
Hancock, a four-year starter at East Bladen, ranks 15th on the all-time prep scoring list in North Carolina and fifth since the adoption of the five-player rule in girl’s basketball.
She coached AAU basketball from 1990-92 as head coach of the Greensboro Emeralds 12-under team, and also worked as an assistant coach for the same group’s 16 and 18-under teams.