Coaching Staff

Head Coach - Jenn Henley

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Jenn Henley returns to the court for her sixth season as head coach for the Belles in 2011-12 with five very successful seasons behind her.

In her first season as head coach, the Belles attained a 10-6 MIAA record, which represented the most conference victories since joining the league at that point. In her second season, Henley coached a Belles team that played their way to the MIAA semi-finals for a second consecutive year.

In 2009-10, she led the Belles to one of the best seasons in school history with record overall wins (17) and MIAA wins (13) while the team made their first appearance in the MIAA finals. During that same season, the Belles won their fourth consecutive MIAA Tournament First Round game while finishing third in the league. Last year, Henley's squad surpassed the school record for wins with 18 while sending out the class of 2011 with the most wins by a graduating class with 63.

Prior to coming to Saint Mary's College, Henley spent five years as the head women’s basketball coach at Mount Union College. Prior to her career at Mount Union, Henley served as an assistant coach at Loras College while attaining her master’s degree in athletic administration, which she completed in 1998.

The native of Fostoria, Ohio, played one season at Ohio Northern University until a career-ending knee injury stopped her during her freshman season. Henley earned her bachelor’s degree in 1997 in both sport management and communication arts.

Henley has taught upper-level classes at Mount Union in human performance and sport management.

Melissa Cope

Melissa Cope enters her third year as an assistant coach for the Belles in the 2011-12 season. Helping Saint Mary’s to their sixth consecutive season in the top four in the MIAA, Cope’s extensive background in the nation’s oldest athletic conference will continue to aid the Belles’ hopes to be a mainstay in the top of the league.

Prior to joining the Saint Mary’s coaching staff, Cope served as the sports information director (2003-08), assistant women’s basketball (2003-08) and softball coach (2004-07), and the head junior varsity women’s basketball coach at fellow MIAA school Tri-State University (since renamed Trine University). While in Angola, she also was the assistant camp director for the Hoosier Basketball Camp from 2003 to 2007.

A Dean’s List and President’s List student while at Tri-State, Cope graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education. She was a four-year varsity basketball player for the Thunder and was twice named to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference All-Academic Team. Cope was also the recipient of the Tri-State University Shari Coons Award, which is given to the class’s outstanding senior female student-athlete.

Gretchen Linscott

Gretchen Linscott returns to the Saint Mary’s basketball coaching staff this fall after having assisted the program from 2006-08.

Linscott brings back a wealth of coaching experience to the Belles. Before her first stint at Saint Mary’s, she served as a women’s basketball graduate assistant coach at her alma mater, Otterbein College, from 2001-04. With the Cardinals, she played a vital role in recruiting while also organizing practices and a strength and conditioning program. Several individuals and teams matched and set new school records in Linscott’s three seasons with the Cardinals. The 2003-04 squad still holds the program record for most wins in a single season (23).

After her time at Otterbein, Linscott was an athletic academic advisor intern at Ohio University and assisted with the varsity girls basketball programs at Olentangy and Federal Hocking High Schools in Ohio.

A member of the Cardinals basketball team at Otterbein from 1997-2001, Linscott earned a bachelor’s degree in sports and wellness management from Otterbein in 2001 as well as a masters of business administration in 2004. She is also the owner of Gretchen Linscott Photography.