McCray-Penson Announces Additions to Basketball Staff

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State women's basketball coach Nikki McCray-Penson announced the additions of Malikah Willis as an Assistant Coach and Peggy Knight as the Director of Recruiting to her staff on Friday.

Both Willis and Knight join McCray-Penson's staff with a wealth of experience at the collegiate and high school levels. Willis most recently served as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, while Knight served as the head coach of Lake Mary High School in Florida.

"The addition of Malikah [Willis] and Peggy [Knight] to our staff is very exciting," coach McCray-Penson said. "They both come to Mississippi State with proven experiences as student-athletes and coaches, which is important to our growth as a program. Additionally, they have a great record of development and an understanding of our culture. Malikah and Peggy are going to impact our players as well as the community of Starkville."

Willis comes to Starkville with nearly two decades of coaching experience at both the major and mid-major levels. She is an elite recruiter who has signed seven top-25 recruiting classes, four while at West Virginia and three at Georgia Tech.

Before stops at the College of Charleston, Texas Tech and Eastern Michigan, she spent four seasons with Georgia Tech. Willis helped guide the Yellow Jackets to an 81-55 overall record with three WNIT appearances, including a WNIT Championship game and an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Before Georgia Tech, Willis spent four seasons at West Virginia, where she helped lead the Mountaineers to four NCAA Tournaments, three 20-win seasons and a program-best, 29 victories in 2009-10. During the 2010-11 season, Willis and the Mountaineers posted the best start in program history by going 19-0 and had the top-ranked scoring defense nationally for five weeks. With expertise coaching posts and forwards, Willis was an integral part in the development of Asya Bussie, who was a unanimous selection to the 2009-10 All-BIG EAST Freshman Team and eventual second-round WNBA draft pick and two time Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection, Lanay Montgomery, who was drafted in the third round of the WNBA Draft.

During her career, Willis has signed two McDonald's All-Americans, coached 14 all-conference honorees between the BIG EAST, Big 12 and ACC, with five WNBA draft picks that include a pair of first-round selections in Kaela Davis and Bria Holmes.

A native of Queens, N.Y., Willis was recruited to the University of Iowa by legendary head coach C. Vivian Stringer and was a member of the Hawkeyes' No. 1 ranked recruiting class. During her time in Iowa City, Willis was a four-year letter winner and helped guide the Hawkeyes to a pair of Big Ten Regular Season Titles in 1995-96 and 1997-98 and a Big Ten Tournament title in 1996-97.

Willis graduated with her bachelor's degree in Media Studies and African-American studies before playing professionally overseas in Poland and Finland in 1999 and Brazil in 2000.

"I am excited for the opportunity to work with coach McCray-Penson here at Mississippi State," Willis said. "Her energy and passion for the University and our student-athletes is infectious, and I can't wait to help ignite our culture around the community of Starkville with our roll up the sleeves, blue-collar mentality. I'm looking forward to helping the girls grow both on and off the court."

Knight joins McCray-Penson's staff as the Director of Recruiting after serving in multiple coaching roles over the last decade. Knight spent the previous three seasons coaching at 7A Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Fla., located outside of Orlando. While leading the Rams program, she helped guide multiple student-athletes to all-conference honors and was named the SAC and AAA Trophies Winter Sports Coach of the Year in 2021.

Before serving as the head coach at Lake Mary High School, Knight spent two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. At UNLV, Knight helped the Rebels advance to two WNIT appearances and win their first Mountain West Conference Regular Season Championship in 2017-18.

She also served as a lead recruiter for UNLV during her two seasons in Las Vegas. She handled all out-of-state recruiting while creating recruiting content for use in both in-home visits and social media platforms.

Knight is a former women's basketball student-athlete and earned her degree in Communication Studies from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.

"Foremost, I am thankful for the opportunity that God has opened up for me at Mississippi State, and I do not take this opportunity lightly," Knight said. "I am excited to be a part of the Bulldog Family and the women's basketball tradition here. I'm looking forward to elevating Coach McCray and her entire staff in enhancing the program's success."

Season tickets for the 2021-22 season are underway. Fans can purchase season tickets at hailstate.com/tickets or by calling the Mississippi State Ticket Office at (662) 325-2600 or (888) Go Dawgs (888-463-2947).

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU women's basketball on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateWBK."

– HailState.com –

Mississippi State University Athletics

McCray-Penson Announces Additions to Basketball Staff

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