Angie Nelp Adds Jasmine James and Taylor Reed to Tulsa Women’s Basketball Coaching Staff

TULSA, Okla. — University of Tulsa Head Coach Angie Nelp announced Tuesday the addition of Assistant Coach Jasmine James and Assistant Coach and Director of Recruiting Taylor Reed to the Golden Hurricane women's basketball staff.

"I'm very excited to be joining the Tulsa Family," said James. "What Coach Nelp has built has been amazing. Just to listen to her vision and also look at the success the team's had over the last four years she's been there has been awesome to watch. I'm excited to be a part of it. I have unbelievable belief in the team that is being built and as well as the vision that not only Coach Nelp has but as well as the Tulsa administration. I'm just very excited and can't wait to get to work."

Jasmine James, a former Phoenix Mercury guard and four-year letterwinner and All-American at the University of Georgia, joins Tulsa after spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach for the University of Missouri.

"We are excited to welcome Jasmine to our coaching family here at The University of Tulsa," Nelp said. "Her experience coaching and playing at the highest level will be a tremendous asset to our program. Jasmine's proven player development, recruiting, and competitive drive will elevate our program to greater success."

During the 2024-25 season, James continued in the development of former SEC All-Freshman Ashton Judd, who eclipsed the 1,000 point mark during the season and led the team in scoring six times throughout the season.

In the 2023-24 season, James was instrumental in the development of Judd, improving her offensive production from 7.4 to 13.4 points per game in her second season. James was hands-on with Grace Slaughter, Abbey Schreacke and Mama Dembele. Slaughter earned All-SEC Freshman Team honors and ranked fourth among first-year players in scoring at 11.6 points per game while Schreacke led the conference's freshman class in 3-point percentage at 38.4%. Mama Dembele earned All-SEC Defensive Team recognition as the Tigers' point guard ranked top 10 nationally in both steals and assists.

In her first season in Columbia, James helped develop Hayley Frank, who secured back-to-back All-SEC awards, improving her scoring average to 15.4 points per game. James also guided Ashton Judd in her first season as a Tiger as she secured All-SEC Freshman Team honors.

James arrived at Mizzou following two seasons at Tennessee Tech. The Golden Eagles played for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship in 2022 and advanced to the second round of the WNIT.

Prior to Tennessee Tech, she spent the 2019-20 season as the director of basketball operations at Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Before her stint at SIUE, James was the head coach at Bartlett (Tennessee) High School, her prep alma mater. She led the program to its most wins in the previous five seasons as well as a runner-up finish in the District 15-AA tournament. Her coaching career got started as an assistant at Bartlett and on the summer circuit with the Arkansas Banshees organization.

A third-round draft pick to the Seattle Storm in 2013, James later played for the Phoenix Mercury, helping her team reach the 2013 Western Conference Finals. For the following three years, she played overseas in Brazil, Luxembourg, Germany and Israel to cap a four-year professional career.

As a collegiate player, James was a freshman All-American during the 2009-10 season at Georgia. She went on to earn second team All-SEC honors during the 2012-13 season and made four NCAA Tournament appearances. Along the way, she was a consistent Academic All-SEC performer.

James earned her Bachelor's Degree in recreation management and leisure studies from Georgia in 2013.

"I feel truly blessed to be joining Angie and her staff," said Reed. "The culture and standard she has created at Tulsa is something I truly believe in, and I can't wait to be a part of it each day. I'm excited to work with an outstanding group of young women and feel honored that I get to be part of something so much bigger than myself. I look forward to embodying what it means to Love, Trust, and Work day in and day out with an incredible group of people."

Taylor Reed comes to Tulsa after spending the previous six seasons at Houston Christian and was the Associate Head Coach for the last two years. She was an Academic All-American for Louisiana Tech as a senior in 2019.

"We are thrilled to bring Taylor Reed into our TU women's basketball family," said Nelp. "Her experience as an associate head coach and a recruiter brings an invaluable expertise to our program. Taylor's passion and commitment to developing well-rounded student-athletes align perfectly with our values and will strengthen our culture."

Reed, a former CoSIDA Academic All-American and two-year letterwinner at LA Tech, has been part of an HCU staff that routinely sees its roster place in the top-25 among all NCAA Division I women's basketball teams for team GPA, including this past 2023-24 season when the Huskies ranked 18th nationally. HCU has been in the WBCA Academic Top 25 in each of the last six seasons.

2021-22 was a record-breaking season for HCU women's basketball as the Huskies won their first Southland Conference regular season title in program history and finished with a conference record of 12-2. The team qualified for the WNIT and played their first D1 postseason game in program history against the Toledo Rockets.

Timia Jefferson was named Player of the Year for the Southland leading her team to the regular season title. Kennedy Wilson and Julija Vujakovic were named Second Team All-Conference while Marilyn Nzoiwu was named to the All-Defensive team.

Off the floor, the Huskies had a program-record five players named to the Southland All-Academic teams. Vujakovic and Jefferson were named to the first team while Wilson, Nzoiwu and Abbey Sutherland were named second team.

The 2020-21 season was one for the books, with the team only playing 22 games in a shortened schedule due to COVID constraints. Finishing with a record of 11-11, the Huskies reached the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy. Sophomore guard Timia Jefferson was named second team all-conference, leading the Huskies with 15 points per game. Academically, the Huskies once again led the way with a 3.62 team GPA with Julija Vujakovic and Timia Jefferson garnering second team All-Southland Academic team honors.

The 2019-20 season saw the Huskies take the floor with five highly-touted freshmen and a returning class that included five seniors. Timia Jefferson led all freshmen in the Southland Conference in scoring with a 10.2 clip on the year. Junior point guard Megan Valdez-Crader led the Huskies in scoring overall with 11.1 points per game, while Abbey Sutherland and Marilyn Nzowiu featured among the top players in the league in blocked shots. HCU had a couple of big road wins in the non-conference over ORU and ULM and a close game at Texas Tech, before starting conference play. The team posted a 3.723 GPA for the year, with a record-breaking 3.9 GPA in the spring semester. The team had all 15 athletes over a 3.5 for the semester and with cumulative GPAs all above a 3.0 for the first time in the program's history.

Reed played two seasons at Louisiana Tech, earning CoSIDA Academic All-American honors in her final season in 2018-19. During that campaign, she played in 29 games, averaging 8.2 points and 1.4 rebounds per game, and finished her career ranked fourth all-time in Lady Techsters history with 148 3-pointers made. As a junior, she started all 31 games, averaging 10.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Reed also played two seasons at Hutchinson Community College.

A native of Newton, Kan., Reed earned her Bachelor's in exercise and health promotion from Louisiana Tech in 2019 and went on to earn a Master of Science in kinesiology and sport management from Houston Christian in 2021.

Angie Nelp Adds Jasmine James and Taylor Reed to Tulsa Women’s Basketball Coaching Staff

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