MONROE, La. – First-year ULM head women’s basketball coach Missy Bilderback has announced the hiring of her second full-time staff member with the appointment of Tatyana Lofton as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Lofton, who played for Bilderback at Jones College, spent the 2022-23 season as assistant coach at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina.
In her first season with the Blue Hose, Lofton worked with the backcourt players and helped developed Tilda Sjökvist, who earned 2022-23 Big South Conference All-Freshman honors after averaging 8.2 points per game while recording 103 assists. Sjökvist also was selected Big South Freshman of the Week four times last season. Mara Neira, one of two players to start all 30 games for PC, finished second on the team in scoring (9.8 ppg.) and 3-point field goals made (49).
As a team, the Blue Hose set 10 school NCAA Division I single-season records in 2022-23, including total points, scoring average, field-goal percentage, total rebounds and assists.
Lofton previously spent two years as a graduate assistant manager at Alabama (2020-21), assisting the director of basketball operations. During her tenure in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide posted a combined record for 37-24, including back-to-back postseason appearances. In 2021-22, Alabama went 20-14 while advancing to the WNIT quarterfinals. The Crimson Tide finished 17-10 in 2020-21, including an 80-71 victory over North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Lofton earned her master’s degree in sport management from Alabama in May 2022.
During the 2019-20 season, she worked for World Exposure National Coach of the Year Chad Gibney at Western Nebraska Community College as the Cougars finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the final poll with a 28-2 record, including a perfect 16-0 conference record en route to winning the Region IX South Championship. Western Nebraska, which put together a 26-game winning streak, finished seventh nationally in scoring in NJCAA Division 1 while averaging 83.4 ppg., including nearly nine made 3-pointers per game. The 2020 NJCAA National Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
“We are so excited to have Tatyana join our staff at ULM as our recruiting coordinator,” Bilderback said. “She is one of the brightest and hardest working young coaches in this profession.
“Tatyana played for me at Jones College, then went on to gain tremendous experience as a player at Tulane, an assistant in junior college, a graduate assistant in the SEC, and an assistant coach in the Big South. Her knowledge and her ability to connect with young people is extremely valuable to our program. She is someone who I believe in greatly, and I couldn’t be more excited to work beside her each day.”
A native of Madison, Mississippi, Lofton was a two-year letterwinner for Coach Lisa Stockton at Tulane, playing in 54 career games from 2017-19. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Tulane in May 2019.
Prior to transferring to Tulane, she was a two-time first-team All-MACJC and two-time All-Region 23 selection for Coach Bilderback at Jones College in Ellisville, Mississippi. As a sophomore in 2016-17, Lofton averaged 12.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while helping the Bobcats to a 30-2 record, including the program’s first-ever appearance in the NJCAA Division I Tournament as well as a trip to the Elite Eight. As a freshman in 2015-16, she led Jones College in scoring at 16.0 points per game while helping the team to a 19-7 ledger in Bilderback’s first season as head coach.
