Karyn
Ridgeway begins her third year at the helm of the Lady Yellowjackets.
Her 2002 squad finished the season with a 23-5 mark and the No. 3
ranking in the NCAA West Region. After leading the Jackets to a 17-10
record in her first season, her second year saw Ridgeway guide MSU Billings
to its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994.
Ridgeway and the Jackets played a diverse schedule in 2001-02. That
schedule took them to such places as California, Washington, Alaska,
Texas, Nebraska, and New Mexico to showcase their talents. The
Yellowjackets proved up to the challenge, posting a 12-5 record on the
road.
Ridgeway has been involved as an athlete or coach with the game of
basketball for over 20 years. For her, coaching means more than just X’s
and O’s, and wins and losses. Ridgeway sees the game as a means of
becoming a better person.
"It is about developing courage to embark on new challenges, and
about having faith to stick it out through tough times," says Ridgeway.
"It is about getting an education and learning to prepare for success,
whether it be on the basketball court or outside of athletics with
family and careers."
Ridgeway is no stranger to success in the Big Sky State. She has deep
roots with Montana basketball that were first set as an all-state player
for Hellgate High School in Missoula. After high school, she continued
her playing career as a member of the University of Montana Lady
Grizzlies basketball team under current head coach, Robing Selvig.
While at U of M (1985-88), Ridgeway set a single-game assist record
(1987), started at point guard (1988) and was selected to the Big Sky
Conference All-Academic team (1988). In her senior season, the team went
an amazing 29-2 and was eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Stanford
in a second round overtime thriller. The Lady Griz were ranked in the
NCAA Top 20 that season.
Ridgeway’s next stop came in Bozeman, where she served as a volunteer
assistant coach for the MSU-Bozeman Lady Bobcats. Ridgeway worked for
head coach Judy Spoelstra, who is now head coach at Oregon State. During
Ridgeway’s one year with MSU-Bozeman (1992-93), the team wrested the Big
Sky Conference title away from the University of Montana.
Ridgeway’s first head coaching call came from Dillon, where she took
over a struggling Western Montana College program. She was in Dillon for
three seasons, from 1993-96. Her 1994-95 and 1995-96 teams advanced to
the championship game of the Frontier Conference Tournament.
Before coming to Billings, Ridgeway led the Lady Mountaineers as head
coach at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado (1997-99). This
NCAA Division II program made remarkable strides. Ridgeway’s teams
produced six all-conference players for the Rocky Mountain Athletic
Conference.
Ridgeway received her Bachelor’s of Science in Microbiology and
Masters of Science in Plant Pathology from Montana State
University-Bozeman. She has taught in the biology departments of each
college at which she has coached, including MSU Billings.
Her history of excellence with both basketball and academics meshes
will with the student-athletes in the Lady Yellowjacket program. For the
past two seasons, the team has finished in the top ten academically out
of almost 300 teams in the nation. Last year’s squad earned a team
average GPA of 3.552, the second-highest GPA in the nation.
"I’m very proud to be a member of the Lady Jacket family," says
Ridgeway. "We are all very dedicated to continuing the tradition of
excellence of this program, both on the court and in the classroom." |
