Tesla Southcott begins her fifth season in charge of the Concord women's basketball program in 2026-27

The fourth season as the head coach for the longtime CU assistant proved to be her most fruitful season in charge of the program. A steady progression up the MEC standings resulted in the Mountain Lions booking their highest finish since 2021-22 as they finished fourth in the MEC this winter. With Southcott's coaching, Concord teetered on the NCAA Tournament bubble in 2025-26. 

Piloting Concord's success over Southcott's tenure has been Abbie Smith who capped her career by becoming the third All-American in program history. She was also the MEC Player of the Year with Southcott's help. 

Skylar Davidson, Jaisah Smith and Kenyah Stubbs have also been All-MEC on Southcott's watch. 

With two more wins, Southcott will become the fourth-winningest coach in program history as she has a record of 64-55 entering the 2026-27 season. 

Even though Southcott emphasizes the defensive end of the floor, Concord finished top three in the MEC in scoring, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage and three-pointer percentage in 2025-26. 

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 unde 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
2022-23	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
2025-26	Concord	18	11	.621	13-7 / Fourth
Concord Record	4 Seasons	64	55	.538	44-38