My Journey of Covering Marshall Women’s Basketball

 By Ben Anderson

    Marshall Women’s Basketball ended the historic 2025-26 season by claiming its first postseason tournament championship in program history, defeating Illinois State 66-41 to win the Women’s National Invitation Tournament at the Cam Henderson Center. 

    The Thundering Herd finished the season with the most wins in a single season (28), surpassing the record of (26) set by the 2023-24 Sun Belt Conference Championship and NCAA Tournament squad led by now Tennessee Women’s Basketball head coach Kim Caldwell. 

    With the WNIT Championship game marking my final basketball broadcast for the Cutting Edge Sports Radio Network, I want to look back at the last four years of the Thundering Herd women’s basketball program. 

    I arrived on the campus of Marshall University in the fall of 2022. I did not know anything about the women’s basketball program as I had only followed the men’s team up to that point. 

    The Thundering Herd entered the season, with six transfers and four freshmen. Among the newcomers was junior guard Abby Beeman, a transfer from Division II Shepherd University. This season also marked the debut of the soon to be dynamic duo of Peyton Ilderton & Meredith Maier.

    The Thundering Herd was led by head coach Tony Kemper and beginning a new era, starting up its first season in the Sun Belt Conference after joining from Conference USA. The Herd ended non-conference play at 8-5, finishing with a 60-56 victory over UT Chattanooga. 

    Before I go into the conference play portion of the season, let’s go more into Beeman.

    The game that I knew that Beeman would be a crucial piece for the Thundering Herd was the final game of the fall semester against Wright State. The game was on the last day of finals, and I was the color commentator alongside alumnus Ray Rynearson. 

    The Thundering Herd picked up a dominate 72-47 victory over the Raiders. I claimed that Beeman had the game of her life after finishing with 16 points, four assists, and nine rebounds. The reason why I said this was just the number of plays that she was making on the floor that evening as well as just how she carried the overall flow of the offense. She is still the only 5’4, point guard that I know of that led their team in rebounding for the whole season. It was at this moment that I realized that the Thundering Herd have a very talented roster.

    The problem with the talented roster, was that Kemper struggled in conference play. The team was always either down by 20 at halftime and come up short or would fall in the final minutes of the game. The Thundering Herd finished conference play at 9-9 and claimed the No. 8 seed in the SBC Tournament. 

    The Thundering Herd won the first game of the tournament against Coastal Carolina 60-53, before falling to the top-seeded and eventual tournament champions James Madison 63-42 to end the season at 17-14.

    Throughout the season, there was rumors that Kemper would be fired at the end of the season, as there was displeasure among others involved according to sources at the time. Kemper would later on resign and take the head coaching job at his alma mater Central Arkansas, a title that he still holds today. 

    While this was going on, there was a young coach at the Division II level at Glenville State University in Glenville, W.Va. by the name of Kim Stephens. Stephens was lighting up the Division II level at Glenville State, leading the Pioneers to the 2021-22 NCAA Division II National Championship win, and to seven overall NCAA Tournament berths.

    From 2016-23 with the Pioneers, Stephens complied a record of 191-24, including a 132-12 record in the Mountain East Conference. She concluded her final two season with a combined 68-4 record, including the national championship win, and advancing to the national semi-finals in her final season.

    The Pioneers had a unique playing style, running full-court traps for four quarters, running up and down the floor, and subbing five-in and five-out every minute. Word spread fast about Stephens in the Huntington area, and the fans pushed their desires for her to become the next head coach of the Thundering Herd.

    The Marshall faithful would receive what they asked for as Stephens would be hired as the eighth head coach of the Thundering Herd women’s basketball program. I remember that my sports director at the time, Justin Zimmer had her as his number one candidate for the job.

    Stephens would later on get married and change to her last name to Caldwell. 

    Entering the season, there was a lot of concerns including my own concerns on if Caldwell’s chaotic style of play work have success in the Sun Belt Conference. Johnthan Edwards and I were on the broadcast call for her debut at the Cam Henderson Center in the team’s “fans first” exhibition against UPike. The Thundering Herd picked up a 127-76 victory over the Bears.

    The contest showed that Caldwell’s system could work at the Division I mid-major level but also brought a lot of flaws. The Herd’s defense once the Bears broke the press was non-existent as the Bears would just hit layup after layup.

    The Herd looked as if it would have a bad season early on in the year, with losses to George Mason, Northern Kentucky, Wright State, and Morehead State. The team looked as if it was not buying into the system. This all changed when the Herd welcomed the Florida Gators to the Cam Henderson Center. 

    I was fortunate to be on the call alongside Luke Hamilton for this contest. Before the contest started, we were told that Marshall’s Roshala Scott was not dressing the game due to disclosed reasons. Hamilton & I thought that the Herd stood no chance against the Gators after hearing this as Scott was a critical scorer for the Herd the year prior and through the first couple games of the season.

    What we did not know at the time, was that we would witness the game that turned around the Herd’s season and the beginning of the stampede run by the Herd. Marshall defeated the Gators 91-88, by going on a 10-0 run to end the contest and holding the Gators scoreless for the final 3:28 of the contest.

    Beeman carried the way for the Thundering Herd, finishing with 24 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds. It was at this moment, that everyone realized how special of a player that Beeman was, and the potential that this Thundering Herd squad had. The team finally clicked and bought into Caldwell’s system. 

    Scott never saw action again in a Marshall uniform and entered the transfer portal halfway through the season. 

    What came next was pure dominance, as the Herd only lost two games for the remainder of the regular season. One coming on the road in the final non-conference game against Wake Forest, and at home against James Madison in the squads only SBC loss.

    The Thundering Herd dominated through the Sun Belt Conference, starting conference play 10-0. The Thundering Herd went on to win the regular season SBC title. 

    Beeman was named as the SBC Player of the Year, with Caldwell winning SBC Coach of the Year. Glenville State transfer Breanna Campbell was tabbed as an SBC Third-Team honoree. 

    In the first round of the SBC Tournament, the Herd had a historic demolishing of Appalachian State, 116-74. The herd broke several SBC records, including most points in a game (116), most points in a half (62), most field goals made (47) and tied for the most 3-point field goals made (13).

    The win also tied Marshall for the program record for wins in a season with 24, matching that of the 1986-87 season. It was also the fifth time in the season that the Herd eclipsed the 100-point mark, and the most points scored against a division 1 opponent. 

    Marshall advanced all the way to the Sun Belt Conference championship game, where it would face the team that handed the Herd its lone conference loss, the James Madison Dukes. Coach Caldwell’s squad was determined to make the big dance and even had scissors on the scores table to tap on every time they subbed into the game. 

    Marshall overcame the Dukes in an overtime thriller 95-92. This marked the Herd’s second ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, as the Herd had not qualified since the 1997 season when the Herd was in the Southern Conference.

    Entering Selection Sunday, all eyes was on what seed the Thundering Herd would get and where it would have to play. Most projections had Marshall either playing LSU or Notre Dame. 

    I remember attending the Selection Sunday watch party in the student center, and everyone in the audience holding their breath while waiting for Marshall’s fate. Finally, the moment came, and Marshall was granted a No. 13 seed, going up against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg V.A. The Herd faithful exploded in cheers, knowing that it had the chance to travel to support the program. 

    The FM88 Sports Team had high expectations for the Herd to make a tournament run, with most of us saying that the Herd would go to the Round of 32 or the Sweet 16. The reasoning behind this was the pure offensive dominance that the Herd displayed throughout the season and Virginia Tech was without captain Liz Kitley, who had recently torn her ACL. 

    The trio of Ben Cower, Johnathan Edwards, and I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to the historic Cassell Coliseum and call this matchup for WMUL-FM. 

    The experience at the NCAA Tournament was one that I will never forget. The fan atmosphere was absolutely incredible, and the Hokies fans made the Coliseum, the most hostile away game environment that I had ever experienced in-person. The arena was loud and jumping to Enter Sandman as the ball was tipped. 

    The moment I heard the student section screaming the words to Enter Sandman by Metallica, I immediately knew that the Hokies could easily take control of the game early. My prediction was correct, as the Hokies jumped out to a 13-0 lead, and the Herd missed its first 12 shots from the floor. 

    The closest that the Herd ever got into breaking the deficit was 32-25 with 2:12 remaining in the first half. The third quarter was the exclamation point in the game, as the Hokies came out of the locker room guns blazing, outscoring the Herd 36-9 to take a 78-34 lead entering the final period. 

    Marshall was unable to truly get the offense going in the contest, as it could not respond to the height advantage of the Hokies, going 6-for-41 from behind the arc. 

    Despite the heartbreaking end to the season, Marshall fans were still proud of the way the Herd finished the season, earning the most wins in a single season and going to the NCAA Tournament.

    After the season concluded, the rumors of Caldwell being a candidate for Power 4 conference jobs was rising every single day. The rumor that grew bigger by the day, was her being a candidate for the head coaching job in Tennessee.

    On April 7, 2024, the official announcement was made that Kim Caldwell was hired as the fourth head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols. Caldwell became the first Lady Vol head coach to come outside the Pat Summitt family. 

    What happened next to the Marshall women’s basketball program was eye-opening. Multiple players entered the transfer portal including the sister duo of Alasia & Aislynn Hayes, Syndi Scott, Terah Harness, Mahogany Matthews, and Meredith Maier.

    The Marshall athletic department was quick to hire Caldwell’s successor, as it followed a similar path. Finding a winning head coach from the lower levels of the NCAA. 

    On April 12, 2024, Marshall announced the hiring of Juli Fulks as the 9th head coach of the program. Fulks was a National Championship winning head coach at the NCAA Division III level with Transylvania. She was named the 2024 WBCA Division III National Coach of the Year following the 2023-24 season that saw Transylvania finish 33-1 and advance to the NCAA Division III Final Four for the second straight season.

    Fulks had a successful final three years at Transylvania, compiling a 91-2 overall record and earned a 64-game winning streak, which included a perfect 33-0 record and the 2022-23 Division III National Championship. She came to Marshall with an overall coaching record of 400-143. 

    During her final season with Transylvania, the team dominated on both ends of the floor. It was the No. 1 scoring defense in Division III, allowing just 43.6 points-per-game, a mark that was best across all NCAA Divisions. 

    The Pioneers was ranked No 2. Nationally in scoring margin (+27.9 points per game) while ranking in the top 10 nationally in five other categories: 3-point percentage defense, field goal percentage defense, 3-pointers per game, assist-to-turnover ratio and fouls per game.

    Shortly after the hiring of Fulks, Marshall was able to bring back the Hayes sisters and Maier from the portal. 

    There was a lot of pressure on Fulks entering her first season at the helm. Fans had the expectation that Fulks would follow the same path as Caldwell and immediately turn Marshall into Sun Belt Conference championship contenders in her first season. 

    Fulks did not run Caldwell’s system and instead focused more on playing zone defense and setting up offense sets rather than the full court, fast-paced style of her predecessor. 

    The season did not start the way fans hoped for as the Herd dropped its first two games of the season by a combined five points, falling by three to Toledo, and by two to Northern Kentucky.

    I was on the broadcast call for the Northern Kentucky loss alongside FM88 Sports Connor Brown. Macy Blevins knocked down the game-winning three from the far corner with two seconds left to give the Norse the 80-78 victory. Fulks tried to call timeout but was never noticed by the officials, and the Herd tried to put up a half-court prayer but to no prevail.

    Fulks finally earned her first win of the season in the team’s next contest, defeating Elon 65-56. Sun Belt Conference play showed that their would-be growing pains in the first season in the Fulks era and that the Herd was probably not going to find lightening in a bottle two years in a row. 

    The Herd started SBC play on a seven-game skid, falling to the likes of Texas State, Arkansas State, Troy, James Madison twice, Old Dominion, and Appalachian State. The Herd finished conference play with a 6-12 record to enter the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the No. 11 seed with a 11-19 record, meaning it would have to play seven games in seven games to go back to the NCAA Tournament. 

    In the SBC Tournament, Fulks showed why she had so much success in the postseason at Transylvania. She led the Herd to winning five games in five days, as well as winning eight of the last 11 games to finish her inaugural season 15-20. 

    Fulks and the Thundering Herd aimed to carry that momentum into year two as it was picked 8th in the SBC preseason coaches’ poll. Maier, entered the season as the team’s only selection on the Preseason All-SBC list, being named Preseason All-SBC Third Team. Marshall returned eight players and brought in a couple of key newcomers with freshman Olivia Olson, and VCU Transfer Timaya Lewis-Eutsey.

    The Herd immediately showed power in the first game of the season with its suffocating defense, defeating the reigning WNIT Champions Buffalo Bulls 53-39. The 39-points allowed was the least allowed by the Thundering Herd against a Division I opponent since Nov 22, 2022. 

    The Herd suffered a close lose against Indiana 57-51 and kept its own in the first quarter against No. 23 Kentucky at the Cam Henderson Center. 

    The beginning of the season, saw the Herd’s defense being the key factor in winning games, as the offense was usually not able to get going till the second or third quarter.

    The next dominate performance came in Nov 18. When the Herd decimated Division II Salem 105-31, tying the program record for largest margin of victory since the 2016-17 season (74).

    SBC play saw the opposite results from the year prior, as the Herd opened league play on a six-game winning streak. 

    Things went south for the Herd during this winning streak, as Olson would go down with a season-ending knee injury at Appalachian State. This forced the Herd to find players to fill in new roles and the Herd struggled with this for a while.

    Marshall dropped back-to-back league games on the road against JMU, and ODU. The Herd suffered a second-half collapse against Troy, giving up a 20-point halftime lead to fall 85-82. 

    The question turned from can the Herd run the table and win the league and go back to the NCAA Tournament, to what would have happened if Olson stayed healthy. 

    Marshall ended the season with an overtime loss against Georgia Southern on senior day and falling in its first game in the SBC Tournament to No. 12 South Alabama 73-58. 

    After the team’s elimination in the SBC tournament. It was thought by many, including myself that the season was over for the Thundering Herd. This left me wondering what if everyone would have stayed healthy. 

    Selection Sunday came around, and the news broke that the Herd had a chance to redeem its season, claiming an at-large bid in the WNIT with a first-round home matchup against UMBC. 

    Marshall then ran the table in the WNIT and advanced all the way to the WNIT Championship against Illinois State. 

    The contest is one that I will remember for the rest of my life. Lewis-Eutsey started the game scoring the first 11 points of the contest. Lewis-Eutsey during the contest broke the program single-season individual scoring record set by Marshall Athletics Hall of Famer Karen Pelphrey in the 1985-86 season. 

    The finish of the contest was very emotional for me as it was a true fairytale ending to my time calling Marshall Basketball. Watching the team win its first postseason tournament title and cut down the net was just spectacular and there was plenty of tears during the postgame show.

    As a kid who grew up as a diehard Marshall fan, I’ve had the opportunity of a lifetime over the past four years to broadcast and cover Marshall athletics as a broadcaster and journalist. This contest will forever be my favorite broadcast during my tenure at WMUL-FM. It was the perfect way to conclude my basketball broadcasting days at Marshall.

    I want to end this with thanking Marshall women’s basketball for all of the memories during my time at Marshall University and giving me the opportunity to call a championship win. It’s been an honor to cover this program over the past four years and watch its rise to Sun Belt Conference Contenders. 

    Even though I will now be graduating from Marshall and departing from the FM88 Sports team. I will never forget my time covering the Thundering Herd and I will cherish the memories and lessons learned for the rest of my life. 

    Marshall women’s basketball, thank you for everything. I will miss being at the Cam Henderson Center and hearing the roar of the Marshall faithful. 

    I sadly now have to close this chapter in my life and move on to the next stage of my broadcasting career. 

    I am proud to announce that I will be continuing my academic journey at the Newhouse School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Syracuse University to pursue a master’s degree in digital and Broadcast Journalism with a emphasis in Sports Media and will begin taking classes in July. 

    In conclusion, I hope that despite my time covering the Marshall women’s basketball is ending, that the Thundering Herd continue to provide the amazing moments and memories to the future students at Marshall University and future of the FM88 Sports team that it provided me. 

    Marshall women’s basketball — thank you for everything.