YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – Eastern Michigan University head women's basketball coach AnnMarie Gilbert will be inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday, May 22, in Columbus, Ohio. Gilbert will be recognized as part of the fifth annual class, which is headlined by nine-time NBA All-Star and coaching legend Lenny Wilkens, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
The public is invited to the program, which includes a 6 p.m. cocktail reception, dinner, a silent auction and the induction ceremony. Individual admission is $75 and tables of 10 can be reserved. Sponsor tables, which include recognition at the event and on the OBHOF web site, are $1,200. Tickets can be ordered online at www.OhioBasketballHallofFame.com.
Also going in are Frank Baumholtz, Don Carlos, Doc Daugherty, Gordon Gund, Robin Hagen-Smith, Don Henderson, Jerry Jackson, Ken Newton, Bob and Nan Nichols, Frank Shannon, Tom Toohig, Lenny Wilkens, George Wilson, the 2002 Otterbein men's team, the 1999 Shawnee State women and the Delphos St. John's girls basketball teams from 1977, '79 and '80.
Gilbert played for two seasons (1986-88) at Mid-American Conference member Ohio University. She transferred to Oberlin for her junior and senior seasons (1989-91), where she was a two-time Kodak first-team All-American, a two-time NCAC Player of the Year, the Honda Division III Athlete of the Year and the Champion USA/WBCA Player of the Year in 1991. As a junior at Oberlin, Gilbert led the nation in scoring (31.1 points per game) and was the nation's second-leading scorer as a senior (31.3 ppg). She set the NCAA Division III record for points in a game with 61 against Allegheny, Feb. 6, 1991.
She is still the Oberlin record holder for points in a season (778, 1989-90), field goals in a game (28), field goals in a season (319) and free throws made and attempted in a game (13-of-17 vs. Case Western Reserve, Jan. 6, 1990). In just two seasons as a player at Oberlin, she registered 1,527 points to become the school's leading scorer, a record which stood until 2002.
All told, Gilbert set 24 school records and 10 conference records as a player and still holds 10 standing NCAA Division III records. She received an invitation to compete for the U.S. team in the 1990 Pan Am Games trials in Colorado Springs. Oberlin retired her jersey in 1994 and in 2001 she was inducted into the Oberlin College Athletic Hall of Fame. Gilbert was a Street & Smith's All-American, a McDonald's All-Star game participant and was Ohio Miss Basketball her senior year of high school.
It was a magical 2009-10 campaign for the Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team, as the Eagles finished with a 22-9 overall record and an 11-5 mark in conference play. Coming off a rebuilding 2008-09 campaign that saw the Eagles win just eight games, third-year head coach AnnMarie Gilbert guided a relatively young squad, with just two seniors, and nine freshmen and sophomores to one of the nation's biggest turnarounds.
The Eagles became the first MAC women's basketball program to post a 20-win season following a year in which the team won less than 10 games. EMU also finished just one victory shy of equalling the 1985-86 Ohio University squad for the biggest single-season turnaround in league history. That Bobcat crew won 26 games after posting just 11 victories during the entire 1984-85 campaign.
Sophomore Tavelyn James posted one the of best offensive seasons in not only Eastern Michigan history but in Mid-American Conference history, as well. The Detroit native finished the year at 20.7 points per game, making 220 of her 550 shots from the floor, to become the first EMU player since Sharon Brown in 1985-86 to average more than 20 points per contest.
