Pitt Johnstown Names Sasha Leverentz Head Women’s Basketball Coach

July 10, 2007

Courtesy Chris Caputo, UPJ Sports Information Director

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown has named former Shippensburg University assistant coach Sasha Leverentz its new head women’s basketball coach. Leverentz is scheduled to begin her duties on August 1.

Leverentz recently wrapped up her fourth season as the head assistant coach with the women’s basketball team at Shippensburg where her duties included recruiting, working with the post players and monitoring the team’s academic progress. Leverentz also spent six weeks of the 2005-06 regular season as Shippensburg's acting head coach during the birth of head coach Kristy Trn's first child, daughter Alyssa.

During her tenure, Leverentz worked with 2004 PSAC Western Division Rookie of the Year and three-time All-PSAC Western Division selection Shanna Oaddams as well as Kim Strickland, who ranked second in career blocks and sixth in career rebounds, and 2007 PSAC Western Division Rookie of the Year Lauren Beckley (Fairfield/Fairfield).

A native of Watertown, Wisconsin, Leverentz is a 2000 graduate of Northern Michigan University where she had an outstanding playing career for the Wildcats. In 1998, she led Northern Michigan to the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region championship, the first of three-straight regional championship game appearances.

As a senior in 1999-00, Leverentz ranked fourth in the nation in scoring at 22.7 points per game and led Division II in total points with 703. She was tabbed All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) North Division First Team, GLIAC Tournament Most Valuable Player and Second Team Daktronics, Inc., All-America honors and Honorable Mention Women’s Division II Bulletin All-American accolades.

Following her career at Northern Michigan, Leverentz competed professionally in Europe for two years, playing for Lausanne Olympic in Switzerland (2002) and Basket Club Racing in Luxembourg (2003). While in Switzerland, she averaged 29 points and 11 rebounds per game and was selected as a European All-Star.

In Luxembourg, Leverentz averaged 34 points and 13 rebounds per game in leading her team to the Luxembourg championship with only one loss. She was selected the league’s Most Valuable Player.

For the past four years, Leverentz has been a member of the four-time Women’s Eastern Basketball Alliance (WEBA) champion Harrisburg Horizon. In 2005, the Lady Horizon recorded the first perfect season in WEBA history, finishing the year 9-0.

Three times Leverentz earned All-WEBA First Team honors, and in 2006 and 2007, she took home WEBA Most Valuable Player honors after leading the league in scoring and rebounding in 2006 and scoring in 2007.

Leverentz replaces Jodi Gault, who built the Pitt Johnstown women’s basketball program into a national power.

In 25 seasons, Gault, who ranks in the Top-10 all-time among women’s Division II coaches in total victories and winning percentage, ended her Pitt Johnstown career with a 540-156 (.778) record. Gault led the Lady Cats to 15 of their 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, five regional titles and an appearance in the Final Four in 1987. She also coached 20 of Pitt Johnstown’s 23 All-Americans and nine Kodak All-Americans.

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