Aug. 23, 2010

BEAUMONT, Texas - Lamar University women's basketball coach Larry Tidwell announced the addition of Sunny Vadopalaite and Ashley Crawford to the Lady Cardinals basketball staff Monday.

Vadopalaite, a native of Vilnius, Lithuania, comes to Lamar from Kean University, where she was the assistant women's basketball coach for the Division III power that went 29-2 last season, advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III Tournament. She will serve as the director of basketball operations for the Lady Cards.

Vadopalaite, who holds a bachelor's degree in business management and marketing from Felician College and a master's in business administration from West Virginia Wesleyan, played two years at Long Island University before transferring to Felician for her final two seasons. She was the assistant coach at West Virginia Wesleyan for two years before accepting the job at Kean. She was a member of the Lithuanian Junior National Basketball Team for four years.

"Sunny brings a wealth of international experience to our staff," Tidwell said. "She will definitely be an asset in our European recruiting and will handle the day-to-day operations for the program."

Crawford moves from one end of the bench to the other for Lamar after having completed her playing career for the Lady Cardinals. Crawford played in all 34 games last season for Lamar, helping LU capture the Southland Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

A First Team District 6 All-Academic Team selection, Crawford had a 4.0 GPA while pursuing her master's degree in kinesiology last season.

"Hiring Ashley was a no-brainer," Tidwell said. "As great of a player as she was, she was a greater student-athlete. She's very focused on her career."

The Lady Cardinals, who finished 26-8 last season, open the 2010-2011 season at Missouri State on Nov. 13 in the first round of the Preseason WNIT.