Women's Basketball

Tarniesha Scott began her first season as assistant women's basketball coach in May, following a successful tenure as head women's basketball  at Ottawa University.

Scott has an overall coaching record of 203-114 and a head coaching record of 71-39.

Under Scott’s leadership, Ottawa had one of the best seasons in program history in the 2022-23 season, finishing with overall record of 18-12 and placed sixth in the KCAC with a record of 13-9. Ottawa had the most wins since 2016-17 (18), best winning percentage since 2006-07 (.600), and defeated NCAA Division II William Jewell College.

The team also set five single game school records; scoring (109), assists (32), rebounds (69), free throw percentage (1.00), and 3-pt field goal attempts (41). OU also qualified for its first KCAC Tournament semifinal game since the 2015-16 season.

Scott has coached nine all-conference players and one conference player of the year, coached and recruited two NAIA All-Americans, coached two conference championship teams, coached one Texas private school state championship team, was the first head coach to take Talladega College to the NAIA National Tournament, and helped two other teams reach the NAIA National Tournament.

Before arriving at Ottawa, Scott was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Xavier University of Louisiana from 2016 to 2020. In four years, she helped the Gold Nuggets to a record of 70-50, a 2018-19 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) regular-season championship with a conference record of 13-1, and an overall record of 23-8, and a trip to the NAIA Women’s Basketball Division I National Tournament.

Prior to working at Xavier, Scott was an assistant women’s basketball coach during the 2014-15 season at Prairie View A&M University. She helped the Panthers finish third in the Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC) with wins over the University of Houston and Sam Houston State University. Scott coached SWAC “Player of the Year” Jeanette Jackson.

Scott spent two seasons as a member of the women’s basketball staff at Talladega College from 2012 to 2014. She was an assistant coach with the program until the final 13 games of the 2013-2014 season, when she was named the interim head coach. Scott led the Tornadoes to a record of 10-3, a GCAC regular season championship, a berth to the NAIA Division I National Tournament, and a final ranking of no. 25 in the NAIA Postseason Women’s Basketball Division I Poll.

During the 2011-12 season, Scott was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Texas–Dallas, her alma mater. She played at UTD from 2007 to 2011. Scott led the American Southwest Conference (ASC) in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game as a senior. She was a First Team All-ASC selection and an Honorable Mention All-American on teams chosen by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and Women’s D-III News. Scott was three times named Academic All-ASC.

Scott graduated in 2011 from UTD with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She earned her MBA with a concentration in sports entertainment in 2013 from the University of Dallas.