Princeton University Athletics
Melanie Halker and Milena Flores Named Women's Basketball Assistant Coaches
June 15, 2007 | Women's Basketball
PRINCETON ? Melanie Halker and Milena Flores have been named as assistant women's basketball coaches at Princeton University, head coach Courtney Banghart and Director of Athletics Gary Walters announced Friday.
“Success clearly relies on being surrounded by great people,” Banghart said. “With the addition of Melanie and Milena to the Princeton staff, I have surrounded myself and the entire Princeton basketball community with integrity, class, committment to excellence, and a firm belief in the ideals of the Ivy League. With both on board, I am very optimistic about the future of Princeton basketball.”
Halker comes to Princeton from Dayton, where she was an assistant coach for one season after gaining experience at both Indiana State and her alma mater, Siena.
“I'm excited for the opportunity to work with a great friend and up-and-coming coach in Courtney,” Halker said. “Princeton has prestige and a beautiful campus and I'm looking forward to getting started.”
“I am very pleased to hire Melanie. She is one of the bright young stars in collegiate women's basketball,” Banghart said. “She brings a tireless work ethic, a knowledge of the game, and a strong committment to winning. Her positive energy will be instrumental to what we want to do here at Princeton. She has been successful in all the programs with which she's been affiliated and I look forward to having her committment to excellence on our staff.”
Halker graduated from Siena in 1999 and spent the better part of two years following graduation playing professionally in Luxembourg and Israel. She remains the all-time leading scorer (2,021) and rebounder (1,122) in Siena's Division I history and was a two-time MAAC Player of the Year, winning the honor in 1998 and 1999.
In 2001, Halker returned to Siena as an admissions officer before joining the women's basketball staff as an assistant coach for the 2002-03 season.
That year, Siena advanced to the second round of the WNIT, and the Saints followed that up in 2003-04 with a second straight MAAC regular-season title.
Halker then moved to Indiana State for a two-year stint. In 2005-06, the Sycamores won 27 games and played in the WNIT.
Post players are Halker's specialty. She helped Ashley Clark at Indiana State win first-team All-Missouri Valley conference honors in 2005 and Siena center Liene Jansone was the 2003 MAAC Player of the Year.
Halker and Banghart, a Dartmouth graduate, also played against each other three times with Siena winning two of the three contests. As assistant coaches, Halker's Siena team won a home game over Dartmouth in 2004 and Banghart's Big Green beat Dayton in Hanover this past season.
Halker is a native of Glandorf, Ohio.
A 2001 Stanford graduate, Flores has honed her coaching skills at Pacific, Lehigh and most recently Yale.
“It's exciting to be part of a new era for Princeton women's basketball,” Flores said. “Courtney has a vision for the program and I think the staff will be able to work together to accomplish that. I'm excited about the talent and the quality of the student-athlete that is there.”
“I am thrilled that Milena has chosen to join our community,” Banghart said. “Her playing experience both at Stanford and in the WNBA will be an invaluable resource. She is a proven teacher of the game and she will undoubtedly make an immediate impact with the development of our student-athletes. We are so lucky to have Milena, as she believes wholeheartedly in the Ivy League, and more specifically, in Princeton's commitment to excellence.”
During her playing career at Stanford, a perennial national contender, Flores helped the Cardinal to the Final Four in 1997. She was also a first-team academic all-conference honoree twice and a GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree. Flores finished her career ranked third on Stanford's all-time assists list and was a first-team All-Pac-10 honoree in 1999 and 2000.
After Stanford, Flores earned an NCAA postgraduate scholarship and continued her playing career for the WNBA's Miami Sol as well as in Lithuania.
Flores stayed in California to serve as an assistant coach at Pacific during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons before heading east to Lehigh for one year. In 2004-05, Lehigh finished 19-10, the second-best record in the Patriot League.
Over the past two seasons at Yale, working with head coach Chris Gobrecht, Flores helped the Bulldogs to a nine-win improvement from 2005-06 to 2006-07.
Flores will work primarily with Princeton's guards. Last season at Yale, guard Melissa Colborne was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and in 2005 at Lehigh, Sara Ellis was a second-team All-Patriot League guard.
Flores is a native of Snohomish, Wash.
“Success clearly relies on being surrounded by great people,” Banghart said. “With the addition of Melanie and Milena to the Princeton staff, I have surrounded myself and the entire Princeton basketball community with integrity, class, committment to excellence, and a firm belief in the ideals of the Ivy League. With both on board, I am very optimistic about the future of Princeton basketball.”
Halker comes to Princeton from Dayton, where she was an assistant coach for one season after gaining experience at both Indiana State and her alma mater, Siena.
“I'm excited for the opportunity to work with a great friend and up-and-coming coach in Courtney,” Halker said. “Princeton has prestige and a beautiful campus and I'm looking forward to getting started.”
“I am very pleased to hire Melanie. She is one of the bright young stars in collegiate women's basketball,” Banghart said. “She brings a tireless work ethic, a knowledge of the game, and a strong committment to winning. Her positive energy will be instrumental to what we want to do here at Princeton. She has been successful in all the programs with which she's been affiliated and I look forward to having her committment to excellence on our staff.”
Halker graduated from Siena in 1999 and spent the better part of two years following graduation playing professionally in Luxembourg and Israel. She remains the all-time leading scorer (2,021) and rebounder (1,122) in Siena's Division I history and was a two-time MAAC Player of the Year, winning the honor in 1998 and 1999.
In 2001, Halker returned to Siena as an admissions officer before joining the women's basketball staff as an assistant coach for the 2002-03 season.
That year, Siena advanced to the second round of the WNIT, and the Saints followed that up in 2003-04 with a second straight MAAC regular-season title.
Halker then moved to Indiana State for a two-year stint. In 2005-06, the Sycamores won 27 games and played in the WNIT.
Post players are Halker's specialty. She helped Ashley Clark at Indiana State win first-team All-Missouri Valley conference honors in 2005 and Siena center Liene Jansone was the 2003 MAAC Player of the Year.
Halker and Banghart, a Dartmouth graduate, also played against each other three times with Siena winning two of the three contests. As assistant coaches, Halker's Siena team won a home game over Dartmouth in 2004 and Banghart's Big Green beat Dayton in Hanover this past season.
Halker is a native of Glandorf, Ohio.
A 2001 Stanford graduate, Flores has honed her coaching skills at Pacific, Lehigh and most recently Yale.
“It's exciting to be part of a new era for Princeton women's basketball,” Flores said. “Courtney has a vision for the program and I think the staff will be able to work together to accomplish that. I'm excited about the talent and the quality of the student-athlete that is there.”
“I am thrilled that Milena has chosen to join our community,” Banghart said. “Her playing experience both at Stanford and in the WNBA will be an invaluable resource. She is a proven teacher of the game and she will undoubtedly make an immediate impact with the development of our student-athletes. We are so lucky to have Milena, as she believes wholeheartedly in the Ivy League, and more specifically, in Princeton's commitment to excellence.”
During her playing career at Stanford, a perennial national contender, Flores helped the Cardinal to the Final Four in 1997. She was also a first-team academic all-conference honoree twice and a GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree. Flores finished her career ranked third on Stanford's all-time assists list and was a first-team All-Pac-10 honoree in 1999 and 2000.
After Stanford, Flores earned an NCAA postgraduate scholarship and continued her playing career for the WNBA's Miami Sol as well as in Lithuania.
Flores stayed in California to serve as an assistant coach at Pacific during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons before heading east to Lehigh for one year. In 2004-05, Lehigh finished 19-10, the second-best record in the Patriot League.
Over the past two seasons at Yale, working with head coach Chris Gobrecht, Flores helped the Bulldogs to a nine-win improvement from 2005-06 to 2006-07.
Flores will work primarily with Princeton's guards. Last season at Yale, guard Melissa Colborne was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and in 2005 at Lehigh, Sara Ellis was a second-team All-Patriot League guard.
Flores is a native of Snohomish, Wash.
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