MIAMI (June 14, 2016) -- FIU women's basketball Head Coach Tiara Malcom has appointed LaSondra Barrett as her first outside hire to join the coaching staff, the program announced today.
 
Barrett, who played three professional seasons after her career at Louisiana State University, was a two-year graduate assistant at LSU. The Lady Tigers were nationally-ranked in three of her playing seasons, earning three NCAA Tournament berths during that span. They earned a fourth with her on the bench. An exemplary player at LSU, she is one of only two Lady Tigers with over 1,500 points, 200 assists, 800 rebounds and 100 steals in a career at the Southeastern Conference institution, where she graduated with the first of her two degrees. 
 
"I am very excited to add LaSondra to my staff," said Malcom of her first hire since taking over the program as the head coach on April 8.
 
"She was able to experience so much success at the collegiate and professional levels, this experience will be invaluable as she begins her career as a coach. Upon first meeting LaSondra, you are drawn to her warm personality, I am excited about the energy and care to develop our players that she will bring on a daily basis."
 
"I'm extremely grateful for my first coaching opportunity," Barrett said. "I cannot express enough gratitude to Coach Malcom for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of the FIU staff. I'm excited to be a part of something special and establish a winning culture here.
 
Barrett played all five floor positions during her time in Baton Rouge, and was selected as the 2009 SEC Freshman of the Year, as well as a two-time first-team All-SEC selection. A WBCA Honorable Mention All-America honoree after both her junior and senior seasons, she was the seventh player in program history to be selected in the first round of the WNBA draft, taken 10^th overall by the Washington Mystics in 2012. She was selected as LSU's 2016 SEC Women's Legend and was honored with legends from each of the SEC teams at the conference tournament in March. Professionally, Barrett played one season in Israel and two more in Australia before returning stateside to work with the LSU program.
 
Her undergraduate studies led her to a December, 2011 degree in sports administration, with an emphasis in business commerce. Following completion of her graduate work in 2016, she earned a Master's of Sport Management.
 
"I believe we have an amazing staff here along with quality players to begin that journey," added Barrett. "The journey will be exciting, and we want to instill that into our student athletes. When you put time and effort into your craft, the outcome is unmeasurable. I plan to used my experiences throughout my entire (collegiate and professional) basketball career along with life lessons I've learned from many coaches and mentors to help build character, perseverance and a hard work ethic on and off the court to our student athletes."
 
Malcom will add one more assistant position in the coming weeks ahead of the 12-member team returning to campus later this month to being preparations for the 2016-17 campaign.
 
For women's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUWBB) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUWBasketball) for all the latest FIU women's basketball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
 
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and at the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.