Salazar going with professional experience; tabs former WNBA player as new assistant (Audio)

Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com)-When assistant Keisha Watson left the Garden City women’s basketball program a couple of months back, Head Coach Nick Salazar had some questions to answer. 

“She (Watson) helped recruit two of our kids from Oklahoma City,” he said. “My first job was to reassure them that this was the place they needed to be.”

Their reassurance was confirmed on Tuesday when Salazar named former Xavier All-American and WNBA player Ta’Shia Phillips as his new assistant coach. 

“Coach Mike Neighbors, who was an assistant at Xavier when she was there and who is now the Head Coach at the University of Washington, told me she is going to work really hard and make your post players really good,” Salazar said. “That’s all we needed to hear.”

Phillips was an All-American and All-Atlantic 10 player during her time at Xavier. She was drafted eighth overall in the 2011 WNBA draft by the Atlanta Dream. She also spent some time with the New York Liberty. 

The 26-year old spent last year coaching high school ball in her hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana.