During the 1993-94 season, the Tennessee State women's basketbal team won a then-school record 20 games and lost only nine. The team also went 13-3 in conference play en route to the team's first ever Ohio Valley Conference Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The championship team was led on the court by first team all-conference selection junior Carolyn Aldridge and second team all-conference selection sophomore Connie Swift. The dynamic duo of Aldridge and Swift was the first of its kind at Tennessee State breaking and setting a handful of school records including points in a game and points in a season.
The 1993-94 team also boasted the most storied and winningest women's basketball coach in the school's history in Teresa Lawrence Phillips. In her first year at Tennessee State, Phillips raised the team's win total from two the previous year to 12. In her fourth season as head coach, the Tigers finally had a winning record in conference play, but it was not until her fifth season that the Tigers won the OVC Championship. Her performance in the 1993-94 season earned her the OVC Coach of the Year Award.
The championship team was a long time coming as the team had mustered a winning percentage of just .351 in its previous six seasons.
The Lady Tigers' strong work in conference play earned them a number one seed in the 1994 OVC Tournament and a regular season championship. TSU lived up to its seeding, knocking off No. 4 seeded Middle Tennessee State, 88-66, and No. 2 seeded Tennessee Tech 71-63. The victories gave the Lady Tigers a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
TSU became the first team other than Tennessee Tech or MTSU to win the conference tournament.
Swift was named MVP of the OVC Tournament and Aldridge was also selected to the all-tournament's team.
The following season, TSU got out of the gates quickly, winning the first four games. In the fourth game of the year, Aldridge scored a school-record 51 points in a 19-point win over Wake Forest.
Aldridge again led the team in scoring during the 1994-95 season with 22.8 points per contest. Swift had another great season (17.2 ppg), but the team had another double-digit scorer in center Crystal Marshall.
The trio helped TSU win 22 games and the top seed in the OVC Tournament for the second time in as many seasons.
The Tigers downed MTSU in the semi-finals and made a 24-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Tennessee Tech 66-63.
Phillips won conference coach of the year honors following each record-setting season, and has since become the athletic director for the school.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS (5)
Ohio Valley Conference Regular Season Championships (2) - 1994 1995
Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championships (3) – 1994, 1995, 2015
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