ATLANTA - Bellarmine University Assistant Coach Crystal Kelly has been named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's inaugural Thirty Under 30 list.

The WBCA Thirty Under 30 is a special recognition program that was created to honor 30 up-and-coming women's basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game. Each recipient has exemplified his or her involvement in community service, mentorship and impact on others, professional manner and attitude and professional association involvement.

Kelly joined Head Coach Chancellor Dugan's staff in the 2012-13 season and has helped develop the Knights into a budding power, as the team captured its first Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship this season and tied the best winning percentage in program history after going 24-4.

"Crystal hit the ground running," Dugan said. "She has soaked in everything that (fellow Assistant Coach) Shannon (Litton) has taught her. In three and a half years, Crystal has been given more and more responsibilities and has tackled each one with her own personal flair."

In her first season as an assistant, Kelly helped lead Bellarmine to a 19-11 turnaround after the Knights went 13-14 the previous season. BU has advanced to the GLVC Tournament in each season of Kelly's tenure, and this year followed its conference tourney title with its first berth in the NCAA Tournament since 2008.

Kelly is regarded as one of the best high school players to ever come out of the state of Kentucky. She was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in the Bluegrass and led Sacred Heart Academy to three consecutive Sweet 16 titles from 2001-2004. As a senior, Kelly was named Miss Basketball and participated in the WBCA All-American game.

She then had a storied collegiate career at Western Kentucky, finishing her four-year career as the program's all-time leader in scoring and rebounding. In her final year in Bowling Green, Kelly was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year while leading the nation in field-goal percentage at 64.8 percent. She was drafted in the third round of the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Houston Comets.

Now she's receiving accolades in her young coaching career.

"The 30 coaches who have been named Thirty Under 30 are deserving of this recognition, and the WBCA congratulates them for distinguishing themselves early in their careers," WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew said in a statement. "These coaches have demonstrated eagerness, effectiveness, loyalty, love of the game, and a commitment to the student-athlete. We celebrate their effort on the basketball court as teachers and equally applaud the extensive role they play in impacting the lives of their student-athletes."

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Inaugural WBCA Thirty Under 30 Honorees:

Name	Institution
Mackenzie Argens	California Poly State
Amy Beggin	New Mexico
Gayle Coats	Wake Forest
Melissa D'Amico	Yale
Courtney Davidson	Radford
Maisie Elston	Birmingham Southern
David Foley	Luther
Alysa Horn	Alaska-Anchorage
Aarika Hughes	New Mexico State
Ashley Hutchcraft-Nance	Conway High School
Jessie Ivey	West Florida
Misha Jackson	Emory
Vanessa Keeler-Johnson	Minnesota State-Moorhead
Kelsey Keizer	Southwest Baptist
Jessica Keller	Columbia College (Missouri)
Crystal Kelly	Bellarmine
Kate Lynch	Southern Connecticut State
Joy McCorvey	Michigan
Tamela McCorvey	Northwest Florida State
Katherine Menendez	Colgate
Sahar Nusseibeh	Bowling Green
Kari Pickens	Ashland
Alex Richey	Oglethorpe
Jon Silver	Vermont
Joseph Silvestri	Central Florida
Stephanie Stevens	Gallaudet
Kyron Stokes	Oral Roberts
Adam Tandez	Truman State
Lynsey Warren	Ohio Dominican
Ana Wurtz	Winona State