WOMENS BASKETBALL | COACHES

Lisa Curliss-Taylor | Women's Basketball Head Coach

P: 314-516-5640
E: taylorlis@umsl.edu

Lisa Curliss-Taylor enters her third season as the head coach of the University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s basketball program and is the 10th coach in program history.

In two seasons of rebuilding the program, Curliss-Taylor is 14-41. She is 71-89 in six seasons as a head coach.

After an injury-plagued year, UMSL finished with a 7-21 record last season.

In her first season at the helm of the Tritons, Curliss-Taylor’s team went 7-20. The squad defeated then No. 14 ranked Northern Kentucky, 56-51, at home. The Norse eventually went on to claim the NCAA Division II championship title.

Curliss-Taylor came to UMSL from East Texas Baptist, where she spent the four years serving as the head coach. During that time, she compiled a 57-48 record, including a 40-14 mark in her final two seasons at ETBU.

At ETBU, Curliss-Taylor led the team to a 22-5 record in 2006-07, while being crowned the American Southwest Conference East Division Champions. She had four players earn all-conference honors and was named ASC East Division Coach of the Year. In 2005-06, she led the team to a record of 18-9 overall. She has coached the ASC East Division Freshman of the Year each of the past three seasons and has coached seven all-ASC East players. Her 57 career wins at East Texas Baptist rank her fourth on the school’s all-time win list.

Prior to her head coaching job at ETBU, Curliss-Taylor was an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Washburn University for two seasons. The team went 53-11 in those two seasons, including a 30-4 record in 2002-03 while winning a conference and regional championship, and earning a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.

In the 2000-01 season, she was an assistant coach at Norman (Okla.) High School where she also served as the head coach for the girls sophomore team, earning Class 6A Sophomore Coach of the Year honors.

Curliss-Taylor spent two seasons as a student-assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma for head coach Sherri Coale, where the team went 25-8 during the 1999-2000 season and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

Curliss-Taylor, originally from Oklahoma City, Okla., played collegiately at the NCAA Division I level at Oral Roberts University, before transferring and coaching at Oklahoma. She graduated from Oklahoma University with a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in broadcast journalism and electronic media and a minor in history.

Curliss-Taylor and her husband, Preston, have a three-year old daughter, Lauren.

Lora Westling | Women's Basketball Assistant Coach

P: 314-516-5868
E: westlinglo@umsl.edu

Lora Westling is in her third season as the assistant coach at UMSL. She ssists the program in all aspects of coaching, including on the floor instruction, recruiting and basketball operations duties.

Prior to her appointment at UMSL, Westling has spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Washburn University after a stellar four-year career with the Lady Blues. In her two years on the coaching staff, she helped the team to a combined record of 61-5, including a 32-1 record in 2005-06, and a 29-4 mark in the 2006-07 season. Wasburn won the MIAA tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA Regional championship game both years with Westling as an assistant coach. In addition to her basketball coaching, Westling served as the assistant coach for the women’s soccer team that went 29-4 on the season.

Westling spent four years as a member of the Washburn women’s basketball team, scoring 965 career points and ranks 20th on the school’s all-time scoring list. She broke the school career record for games played and three-point field goals made at the time her career ended, and her record for most career games is an MIAA conference record. Westling earned all-MIAA honors twice during her career and was named to the all-tournament team at the Elite Eight in 2004-05 after averaging 14.3 points per game while helping the Lady Blues win the national championship. She played one season of soccer at Washburn, earning all-conference and all-region honors.

Westling was named the Washburn Lady Blues senior athlete of the year following the 2005-06 academic year and was a four-time MIAA Academic All-Conference selection. During her career, she also served as a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and worked with other charitable organizations such as the Junior Achievement program and as a youth sports coach in Topeka, Kan., for both soccer and basketball.

A native of Casper, Wyoming, Westling graduated from Washburn University in 2005 with a degree in marketing and completed her MBA at Washburn in May 2007.

Raffi Karibian | Women's Basketball Graduate Assistant Coach

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Raffi Karibian is in his first season as a graduate assistant coach for head coach Lisa Curliss-Taylor and the UMSL women’s basketball program.

A 1997 graduate of UMSL with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, Karibian was a standout for the Tritons on the tennis courts, serving as team captain his senior year. He played at No. 1 singles and doubles, earning Most Valuable Player honors.

Karibian is in his eighth year as a physical education teacher at Granite City High School, where he has also served as the head boy’s tennis coach since 2006.

His other coaching experiences include head junior varsity and assistant varsity boys basketball coach at Granite City High School from 1998-2008 and head eighth grade girls basketball coach at Grigsby Middle School in Granite City from 2006-08.

Karibian is working towards a Masters of Education degree in physical education from UMSL.

Courtney Gray | Women's Basketball Graduate Assistant Coach

P: -

Courtney Gray is in her first season as a graduate assistant coach for head coach Lisa Curliss-Taylor and the UMSL women’s basketball program.

The former Courtney Watts is no stranger to UMSL women’s basketball, having been a four-year standout from 2004-08. She played for Curliss-Taylor in her senior season.

Watts etched her name in several career record books at UMSL and became the 10th member of the elusive 1,000-point club. She recorded 1,035 career points, which ranks eighth all-time. Most known for her ability to distribute the ball from her point guard position, Watts ranks third all-time in career assists, tallying 365. She also ranks third in free throws made (274) and attempted (365), third in career steals (142), fifth all-time in career three-pointers made (127), sixth in career three-point field goals attempted (390), seventh in career field goals made (885) and career free throw percentage (.751) and eighth in career three-point field goal percentage (.326).

Gray graduted from UMSL in December 2008 with a degree in biology and is currently pursing a master’s degree in education from UMSL.

Courtney is married to Ryan Gray, a former UMSL baseball player.