SPORTS
Fulks Adds Stephenson as Women’s Basketball Director of Player Development
Infographic from DavidsonWildcats.com
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Davidson College head women’s basketball coach Gayle Fulks has completed her staff for the upcoming 2021-22 season with the addition of Ariel Stephenson as the program’s Director of Player Development.
No stranger to the Atlantic 10 Conference, Stephenson joins the Wildcats after serving for one year as a graduate assistant and video coordinator with the George Washington Colonials, where she also played for one season after a four-year career with Wake Forest University.
“We are very excited that Ariel is joining our staff,” Fulks said. “She is another young woman that has walked in the exact shoes our players are walking in as a high-level scholar-athlete at Wake Forest and George Washington, and as someone whom I have coached. I believe she will be an excellent mentor for our team and will also bring a talented and bright basketball mind to our program.”
A two-year captain of the Demon Deacons, Stephenson became Wake Forest’s 25th member of the 1,000-point club in 2018, while earning ACC All-Academic and All-Rookie honors throughout her tenure. With an extra year of eligibility, Stephenson joined the Colonials at George Washington for the 2019-20 season, before transitioning to a graduate assistant role last year. In her role, she was heavily responsible for the day-to-day operations for the program, including film review, recruiting and team travel.
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be at Davidson; it is such a special place where we cultivate elite scholars and athletes,” Stephenson said. “I feel immensely blessed to be surrounded by hard workers, great basketball minds, and most importantly, great people. Thank you to Coach Gayle for this amazing opportunity and her faith in me to be a part of this program, making a huge stamp in the A-10 record books. I’m excited and ready to get to work!”
Stephenson earned a bachelor’s degree in health and exercise science from Wake Forest in 2019, and completed her master’s degree in sport management from GW in May 2021.