Concord University Women's Basketball

Tesla Southcott begins her fourth season in charge of the Concord women's basketball program in 2025-26. With a record of 46-44 through three years on the sidelines, Southcott continues to improve the program. After finishing seventh in the Mountain East Conference during her first season, the Mountain Lions were sixth in 2023-24 and finished fifth in the league in 2024-25.  Piloting Concord's success over Southcott's tenure has been Abbie Smith who has been a three-time All-MEC performer, including making the All-MEC First Team in 2025. Additionally, Smith became Concord's first all-region player in Southcott's three seasons on the sidelines.  Skylar Davidson and Jaisah Smith have also been All-MEC on Southcott's watch.  Employing a tenacious, full-court press defense, Southcott's 2023-24 team finished top 20 in Division II in both steals per game and turnovers forced by contest. Along with the smothering defense, Concord has put an emphasis on offensive rebounding Southcott averaging 14 or more offensive rebounds in each of the last two seasons, and finshing top three in the conference in offensive rebounding. A native of nearby Princeton, and an assistant coach under the recently-retired Kenny Osborne for the previous eight seasons, Southcott is no stranger to the Concord women's basketball program. With her guidance on the bench, she has helped the Mountain Lions climb to the top of the MEC over the last five seasons. From 2017-18 through 2021-22, CU had a record of 86-50 with only three other schools in the conference posting more wins over that time. During Southcott's time on the bench in Athens, Concord has had seven all-conference players with Riley Fitzwater and Madison May being selected to the all-region teams in three different seasons. And Fitzwater was twice named an All-American at CU under Southcott's leadership. Before retiring at the beginning of May, Osborne had six 20-wins seasons during his 22-year stint at Concord and Southcott was alongside for three of those 20-win campaigns (2018-19, 2019-20, 2021-22). In addition to her duties on game day, Southcott served as Concord's recruiting coordinator for the last eight seasons recruiting key players for CU's success over the last half decade. The local product was a standout at Princeton Senior High School from 2005-2009, and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2016. She went on to have an outstanding playing career at Division III Ferrum College in Ferrum, Virginia. She was a 1,000-point scorer and helped the Panthers win 86 games over four years. At the conclusion of her senior season in 2012-13, Southcott was a named Women's Basketball Coaches' Association (WBCA) Division III Honorable Mention All-American. She is the seventh head coach in program history.   Southcott resides in Princeton with her husband, Austin, and their two children, a daughter, Taytum and son, Trey.      Year Coached School Wins Losses Win Pct. Conference Record/Finish 2022-2023 Concord 14 17 .452 9-13 / Seventh 2023-24 Concord 17 13 .567 11-9 / Sixth 2024-25 Concord 15 14 .500 11-9 / Fifth Concord Record 3 Seasons 46 44 .511 31-31

The 2025-26 season marks the first year on the CU bench for Morgan Mitchell as the top assistant for head coach Tesla Southcott.  Mitchell joins the Concord sidelines from the University of Dubuque, a Division III school in Dubuque, Iowa. The newest addition to the women's basketball staff spent the last four seasons at her alma mater on Justin Smith's coaching staff—the last three as a full-time assistant. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Dubuque racked up 54 wins and reached the American Rivers Conference Semifinals in 2024 with a record of 16-11. "I am so excited to get started at Concord! Coach Tesla (Southcott) and the University have shown that they emphasize the players' abilities on and off the court, and I am excited to be apart of the Concord family," Mitchell said. Mitchell helped coach Tabria Thomas to all-conference first team honors three times. During Mitchell's first year on the sidelines, Karsen Kershner was the ARC Defensive Player of the Year. A total of 10 Spartans landed All-ARC honors. "Morgan is a very positive leader and I'm really excited for her energy and work ethic to mentor our girls on a daily basis," Southcott said. "She has great experience both playing and coaching from a very good program. "Her loyalty and commitment to her career are qualities that stood out in the interview process. She has worn many different hats over her career at Dubuque from reserve teams, game day management, promotions and facility management," Southcott continued. "I know that with her background, she will provide a top-notch work ethic that is perfect fit for Concord and my staff." Southcott also explained, "She has a lot of recruiting connections and I believe her personality will be lots of talent to Concord women's basketball in the future." The former Morgan Meerstein played 71 games over the course of her career for the Spartans with the 2020-21 season being shortened to 13 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mitchell, a native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is married to former Dubuque baseball player Kellen Mitchell.