South Carolina State University Women's Basketball

Veteran and championship coach Cedric Baker has been named the new South Carolina State head women's basketball coach during a press conference by Interim Athletics Director Oliver "Buddy" Pough announced Monday (May 6). "At this pivotal moment in the future of our women's basketball program, we believe Coach Baker is the right person to lead us forward," Pough said. "His experience, vision and values align with our mission of developing student-athletes who excel on and off the court." Baker joins SC State after an extraordinary 22-year tenure at Savannah State, where he built a program defined by excellence, discipline, and historic achievement. "I'm excited to join the South Carolina State family and eager to begin building something special with the student-athletes, staff, and supporters here in Orangeburg, "said Baker. During his career, his legacy includes guiding three collegiate programs to a total of six national tournament appearances, nine regular season and conference tournament championships, several outstanding Coach of the Year awards, and the development of several elite student-athletes. Coach Baker's most recent record-breaking milestones: Producing Savannah State's only WNBA player and women's basketball Olympian, Ezinne Kalu Recording the most single-season wins (27-3), and a historic 14-0 season start Achieving two perfect Academic Performance Rating scores of 1000 Achieved the program's highest Division II national rankings in both the WBCA and the NCAA South Region polls Securing key wins over major programs including the University of Florida, Georgia Southern University, University of Central Florida, East Carolina, Troy University and University of Louisiana-Lafayette Most Division I wins in Savannah State's program history  MEAC Tournament Ring Recipients of 2015 MEAC Tournament Outstanding Coach of 2015. Beyond the numbers, Baker brings a proven commitment to academic integrity, player development, and championship-level performance. A leader who builds culture and winning teams, his confidence will have an immediate and lasting impact at South Carolina State. A 1990 graduate of Voorhees College, he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and applied sciences. At Voorhees, he was a four-year basketball letterman and a member of the 1987 Voorhees Men's Basketball EAIC Championship team.  

Regina Garrett (Coach G) enters her third season as an assistant coach at SCSU after spending two years at nationally ranked Moberly Area Community College in Moberly, MO. During her time at MACC, Garrett helped coach the program to a 55-10 (.846) overall record and a 22-5 (.814) worksheet in region play. Garrett recruited and coached nine All-Region selections, one NJCAA First Team All-American, one WBCA All-American, and one WBCA All-American Honorable Mention. She helped the program amass two NJCAA National tournament berths (2022 & 2023) and achieve the 2023 MCCAC and Region 16 Regular Season Championships and the 2023 Region 16 and Central District Tournament Championships. Garrett began her coaching career as the assistant Coach at Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute (2020-2021) in Hudson, NC. She previously served as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Virginia where she worked under WNBA Hall of Famer, Tina Thompson, following her playing career at SC State (2016-2018). Her passion is to help student-athletes develop on and off the court through character-building, discipline, and teamwork. The Dallas, Texas native graduated from SC State with a Bachelor of Science degree (2018) and earned a master’s in education from the University of Virginia (2020).