Sharea Duncan is currently in her second season as an Assistant Coach for Head Women’s Basketball Coach Jamie Purdy. Duncan’s first season with the club was nothing short of impressive as the team posted a seven-game turnaround in the win column while making the program’s first-ever USA South postseason appearance since joining the league in 2012-13.
Duncan’s impact with the 2014-15 Lady Lions was immediate as Piedmont raced out to a 4-1 record on the way to finishing 17-9 overall one season after the 2013-14 squad managed just ten wins total. With PC winning 11 of its 16 conference games to finish as the second seed in the South Division of the league, Duncan would help lead the Lady Lions to their first postseason appearance as well falling to Methodist University in the quarterfinals.
The 2014-15 Lady Lions ranked as the third best scoring team in the USA South Athletic Conference posting better than 73 points per game while posting a top three mark in fields made per game. Defensively, the team also excelled posting the 2nd most steals per game (12.9 per) and placing in the top 50 in the nation in turnover margin with the 16th most steals per game in the entire nation.
The Lady Lions’ run in the USA South helped Piedmont lay claim to yet another Presidents’ Cup Title on the women’s side, the school’s 8th such honor overall. The crown is the first Women’s Presidents’ Cup for Piedmont in the USA South though PC claimed three titles in its previous affiliation with the Great South Athletic Conference, the most recent coming in 2011 when Piedmont won cups on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Prior to joining the Green and Gold, Duncan spent six years at nearby Habersham Central High School with two years on the bench as an assistant coach with the Varsity. Duncan was the Head JV Coach for the other four totaling an impressive 54-9 record as the leader of the Lady Raiders.
While coaching with Habersham Central, Duncan was instrumental in the development of one of the program’s most storied players, Haley Gerrin. Thought to be one of the top 20 players in the state of Georgia upon her graduation, Gerrin signed with and attended Georgia State University, a NCAA Division I member located in the heart of downtown Atlanta.
Under Duncan’s tuteledge prior to enrolling at Georgia State, Gerrin scored better than 1500 points in her Raider career while leading her team to the most wins of any four-year team in the program’s history, 65. The 6’2 center led her team to the program’s first-ever Sweet 16 in the State Tournament while being named 8AAAA Player of the Year as well as starting in the North-South All-Star game.
Honorable mention All-State, Gerrin took Duncan’s guidance to the next level coming close to taking home Sun Belt Freshman of the Year honors had her season not been cut short due to injury. Gerrin was key though in just a debut season for Georgia State as she 17 points shooting seven of 12 from the floor in the school’s first Sun Belt game coming up a rebound shy of a double-double in the New Year’s Day win over Troy University.
Twice named Blitz TV Channel 32 Player of the Year during her time with Duncan at Habersham, Gerrin scored 23 in her debut for Georgia State while pulling down nine boards in a 65-63 win over Jacksonville State University on November 29th. She hit eight of her 11 tries from the field playing 24 minutes in the two-point win at home.
A former Lady Raider herself, Duncan attended Habersham Central as well from 1993 to 1997 spending her days as a standout for the girls’ basketball program. As one of just a handful of 1,000 point scorers who donned the Blue and Orange, Duncan is scheduled to be inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in December of 2014 having scored her career total in just three seasons with the program.
Serving as an assistant coach with the Lady Lions, Duncan assists in all facets of the Piedmont College women’s basketball program under Head Coach Jamie Purdy.
