A two-time Hall of Fame inductee, Takesha Watson is in her third season as assistant coach for the Lady Cougars following three years of collegiate coaching experience and an acclaimed playing career.

“We couldn’t be more excited and fortunate to acquire a rising coach and young lady of Kesha’s caliber,” said Head Coach Alan Clark. “Her experiences during her stellar career as a player will be huge for our kids on an individual basis.  Kesha’s strength as a recruiter at all levels, including the NCAA Division I level, will be of particular benefit to our program as will her dedication to excellence and determination to succeed serving as an inspiration to our team in achieving high levels of success.”

Inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame this past March, Watson’s second season as Barton’s assistant coach also helped produce another successful campaign for the Lady Cougars in reaching the semifinals of the Region VI Tournament, concluding the 2018-19 year at 23-10 and a third place Jayhawk West finish at 14-7.

Four members earned postseason recognition led by Jaylin Stapleton’s consecutive 1st team selection to the West team and another spot on the Region VI team. Taylor Regan repeated 2nd team All-West honors, to go along with also being named to the Region’s top fifteen players while sharp shooting Mallory Miller earned conference honorable mention distinction. Falling to the No. 2 ranked Seward County squad by just five points to end the season, Stapleton, Regan, and Irene Chukwudi closed out their careers being named to the Region VI All-Tournament team.

Graduating a hard working and gritty bunch of players, the 2018-19 squad left their mark on the record book in five of the program’s best single season performances including raising the best free throw percentage bar to an incredible 75.1% in draining 578 of their 770 charity tosses.

In 2017-18 the Lady Cougars finished 16-15 and tied for 8th place in the rugged Jayhawk Conference with a 13-13 record. Two freshman earned post-season recognition with Stapleton earning 1st team All-Conference and All-Region VI honors while Regan landed on the 2nd team conference squad.

For the second straight year the Lady Cougars assaulted the program’s historical record book in both team and individual categories. The squad hit the books in four single game and season rankings while resetting the best single game 3-pt Field Goal percentage and the season’s top mark from the free throw stripe (73.4%). Individually, ten single game performances fell on the chart led by Miller’s 3-point shooting and Regan dialed in from the free throw line while Miller etched her name atop the season 3-point shooting as Regan, Stapleton, and sophomore Micaela Jellison finished the season on the top ten chart.

The Lady Cougars were also strong in the classroom, earning the NJCAA national title with a stellar 3.72 GPA as four members achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA with eight above a 3.60.

A five year professional career in the United States and abroad preceded Watson’s three years of collegiate coaching prior to Barton, beginning as an assistant coach at Montana Tech University (2013-14), Jayhawk Conference foe Garden City Community College (2015-16), and at Loyola University-Chicago (2015-16).

The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, native earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 2004 from Oklahoma City University and in 2012 became just the second women’s basketball player in school history to be inducted into their Hall of Fame.

A two-time conference and national player of the year in her 2003 and 2004 seasons, Watson led OCU to a 142-7 record including four straight conference titles and four trips to the NAIA national championship game in capturing the 2001 and 2002 crown with two national runner-up finishes in 2003 and 2004.

Watson shattered the OCU women’s program record book, finishing her career at the top of school charts in points (2,658), assists (675), steals (433), field goals (968 in 2,119 attempts), 3-pointers (238), and made free throws (484), Watson also set single season records in points (962), assists (179), steals (143), 3-pointers (106) and 3-point attempts (297). Additionally, Watson set the single-game record in steals with 12 thefts in the Nov. 7, 2003, game against Doane College.

Starring at Millwood High School in Oklahoma City, Watson earned all-state and little all-city honors from The Oklahoman and the Oklahoma Coaches Association, capping her high school career leading Oklahoma to victory over Texas in the Oil Bowl Girls Basketball Classic.

Watson also has Barton ties through younger sister LaToya Jackson, an integral member of the 2006-07 Lady Cougar basketball team before continuing her career at Mercer University.