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In only three seasons at IUP, Cindy Martin has brought the Crimson Hawks to the top of the PSAC and established her program as one of the best in the East Region. In 2007-08, IUP won its second consecutive PSAC championship, the first time that has been accomplished in school history. The Crimson Hawks won 27 games, the most in any season, finished the year ranked No. 1 in the East Region and hosted the NCAA Division II East Region tournament at Memorial Field House. IUP was ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Women's Basketball Coaches Association national poll the entire season and climbed to No. 5, the highest IUP has been ranked since January 2000. For her team's performance, Martin was selected the East Region Coach of the Year by the WBCA. In 2006-07, Martin's second season at IUP, the Crimson Hawks won their first PSAC championship since 1988, defeated archrival California in the conference tournament final and earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA East Region tournament. The Crimson Hawks then defeated Barton and Pitt Johnstown, snapping an eight-game losing streak to the Mountain Cats, before dropping a narrow decision to powerful Glenville State in the Sweet 16. The team finished with a record of 24-9, tied for the second most wins in school history, and took the PSAC West championship with a 9-3 division record. Martin was named the PSAC West Coach of the Year and saw several of her players earn conference and region accolades, led by sophomore Jahzinga Tracey. Tracey was named the PSAC West Player of the Year, MVP of the conference tournament and Daktronics first team all-region. She was joined by senior Katie Glaws on the East Region all-tournament team. Four IUP players earned berths on the all-conference team. Tracey was selected to the first team while Glaws, Staci Heberling and Lauren Fisher were tabbed to the second team. Under Martin's direction, IUP has a three-year record of 70-23, and her winning percentage of .753 is the best in school history. In her first season, IUP was 19-9 and finished second in the PSAC West with an 8-4 division record after being picked to finish fifth in the preseason coach's poll. The 19 wins included a road victory over eventual East Region champion Charleston, which was ranked fifth in the nation at the time, was tied for the third most victories in a season in school history and represented the highest total ever for a first-year IUP head coach. The team had a 9.5 game improvement from a 9-18 campaign in 2004-05, the seventh best increase in Division II women's basketball. In addition to the many accomplishments on the court, Martin's squad has represented itself well off the court. In 2005-06, the team was ranked 15th in the country by the WBCA for its overall grade point average of 3.422 and Kara Taylor was the IUP Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In 2006-07, Glaws was a first team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District II selection as well as a recipient of the PSAC Top 10 award for combined athletic and academic excellence. As if basketball and academics were not enough to keep Martin and the team busy, they were also very successful in their community service efforts. The team completed many community service projects during the past three seasons, including hosting the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Shoot for the Cure Classic that included several of the top teams in the country. During the three years of the Shoot for the Cure Classic, the women's basketball program donated over $30,000 to Komen Pittsburgh to aid in breast cancer research and education. In 2005-06, the team joined forces with a group on campus to raise $13,000 for the Red Cross to aid the displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Indiana County Human Services Council took notice and awarded the IUP women's basketball team the "Volunteer Organization of the Year" for their community service efforts. Martin came to IUP after four years as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Big East member West Virginia. Martin helped lead the Mountaineer program back to respectability, culminating in consecutive 21-win seasons her final two years and a pair of postseason appearances. In 2003-04, the Mountaineers qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years. In March 2005, the team advanced to the championship game of the postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). Martin helped assemble three straight recruiting classes that ranked among the top 20 in the nation according to the All-Star Girls Report, including the class of 2003 that was judged the country's fourth best. Among the players Martin recruited to West Virginia were Meg Bulger, the 2004 Big East Freshman of the Year, and Yolanda Paige, a second round selection by the Indiana Fever in the 2005 WNBA draft. In 2003, Martin brought in 6-5 center Yelena Leuchanka, the No. 1 ranked junior college player in the nation as rated by the All-Star Girls Report. She is currently playing professionally overseas and spent the 2006 WNBA season playing for the Charlotte Sting. Prior to joining the staff in Morgantown, Martin was an assistant coach in the junior college ranks in Florida, including one season each at Santa Fe (1999-00) and Seminole (2000-01). Her Seminole squad posted an overall record of 24-6 and was undefeated in eight games in the Mid-Florida Conference, the first time the team had accomplished that feat. In the summer of 2001, Martin was chosen as head coach of Team Florida USA, an academically selected high school unit which toured Europe. The team won 14 of 16 games and captured the Delfin Cup in Tampere, Finland. Martin also coached on the high school level, serving as head junior varsity coach and varsity assistant at PK Yonge High School in Gainesville, Fla., in 1998-99. Martin enjoyed a stellar college playing career. In two seasons at Flagler (Fla.) College she was an all-conference and all-region point guard, averaging 17 points and 5.4 assists from 1995-97. She then transferred to the University of Florida, where she was a member of the Lady Gators Sweet Sixteen team in 1997-98 under Carol Ross, one of the top head coaches in women's basketball history and currently the head coach at SEC power University of Mississippi. Martin is a 1999 graduate of the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sport sciences from the College of Health and Human Performance. She is a native of Jacksonville, Fla., where her family currently resides. |
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