Young Harris College Women's Basketball Head Coach
Lindsey Huffman
Lindsey Huffman begins her fourth season as the head women's basketball coach at Young Harris College.
The Mountain Lions won 13 games and advanced to the Peach Belt Confence Tournament for the second time in three seasons in 2021-22. Young Harris was ranked as high as No. 8 in the Women's Basketball Division II Southeast Region Media Poll for the first time in program history. Mackenzie Johnson, who was ranked 22nd nationally in NCAA Division II in rebounds per game (10.7) was named to the All-Peach Belt third team.
During the abbreviated 2020-21 CoVID season, the Mountain Lions finished fourth in NCAA Division II statistics in three-point field goal percentage (.398) and fifth in three-point field goal defense (.250). Carly Winters, who finished sixth in the country in three-point field goals made per game (3.30) and in three-point shooting (.508), was named to the All-Peach Belt third team.
Huffman took over a Young Harris program in 2019-20 and won as many games that season as the team has had in the past two years combined. Huffman led the Mountain Lions to a 15-14 overall record. That's the most wins for a YHC women's basketball team since the 2013-14 and an improvement of nine wins over the previous season. YHC made their first-ever PBC Tournament appearance this season with the second-best scoring defense in the league (61.6 ppg). The Mountain Lions were also ranked in the PBC's top five in rebounds per game (36.6), field goal percentage defense (.378) and rebound margin (+3.9). Huffman is the first YHC coach to be named the women's basketball Coach of the Year.
Huffman comes to the Enchanted Valley after spending seven seasons as head coach of Reinhardt University in Waleska, Georgia. Huffman led the Eagles to a 137-88 record (.609 winning percentage) and Reinhardt earned three trips to the NAIA Division II National Tournament.
Huffman turned around the women’s basketball program at Reinhardt. In four seasons prior to her arrival, the Eagles had a combined record of 49-75. She led Reinhardt to Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament title and a trip to nationals in her first season in 2013. Huffman led the Eagles to back-to-back AAC regular-season titles and trips to the national tournament in 2017 and 2018. Huffman was named the AAC Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2018 as the Eagles won more than 25 games each season.
Her Reinhardt teams have consistently been ranked in the top 10 in NAIA Division II statistics in scoring defense and team defensive field goal percentage. In the classroom, the Eagles have graduated 24 academic all-conference players and produced a cumulative team GPA of 3.2 or higher for seven consecutive years.
Prior to coming to Reinhardt, Huffman got her coaching start as a graduate assistant women’s basketball coach at the University of North Georgia. She then spent a season as the assistant varsity girls’ basketball coach at Roswell High School, before returning to UNG for three seasons as an assistant women’s basketball coach.
The Woodstock, Georgia, native is currently Etowah High School’s leading scorer and is ranked within the top 20 in career points in the state of Georgia. As a standout point guard, Huffman earned a NCAA Division I scholarship to Brigham Young University. After a year at BYU and multiple knee injuries, Huffman transferred back home to North Georgia where she finished out her career and helped lead UNG to a 23-4 record and the regular season Peach Belt Conference title in UNG’s first year at NCAA Division II level.
Huffman earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s degree in education from North Georgia.
Young Harris College Women's Basketball Associate Head Coach
Maurice Sumter
Maurice Sumter begins his first season as the associate head coach for the Young Harris College women's basketball program.
Sumter comes to the Enchanted Valley after spending the two past two seasons as an assistant coach for the women's basketball team at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina. Sumter served as interim head coach for the Blue Bears in January 2023 and led Livingstone to a 7-8 record.Sumter spent two seasons at Virginia State University In the two seasons at VSU Maurice took on various roles on the staff that include recruiting, academics, day-to-day and travel operations, and administrative duties. In Sumter's player development role, he led a front court that produced all-Americans in back-to-back seasons. Those two all-Americans went on to play professionally in Europe. In his two seasons with the Trojans they held an overall record of 55-9 and a conference record of 32-4 along with two regular season championships and a 2019 CIAA Tournament championship.
Sumter spent one season as assistant men's basketball coach at Harcum College where the team held a 22-9 record and a Region 19 regular season conference championship and tournament runner up. This Bears produced a NJCAA All-American guard and three other eventual NCAA Division I signees and numerous NCAA Division II signees. The 2016-2017 squad started the season as the number 21st ranked team in the country. His role consisted of academics support, scouting, travel operations and player development.
Sumter volunteered at Old Dominion University in 2015 where he was able to observe multiple functions of the program that became the eventual Conference USA champions.
Sumter served as a volunteer at Shaw University where they lost in the semifinals of the CIAA Tournament. He took part in the player development of two all-conference players and two players that went on to play professionally in Europe.
Sumter entered the collegiate ranks after four years as an assistant coach and player development on the JV and varsity teams at Indian River High School in Chesapeake, Virginia. He also spent two summers with the Adidas Gauntlet powerhouse Team Loaded where he assisted in coaching and recruited some of the top ranked high school players in the country.
A Norfolk, Virginia native by way of Alexandria, Virginia, Sumter was part of the very successful T.C. Williams High School program. In his tenure at T.C. Williams, he was named to numerous honors such as all-district player of the year, first team all-region and All-Metropolitan team in the D.C. area. He also led his team to a 25-4 record and to the regional semifinals where they fell to the eventual state runner-up.
He continued his playing career at Longwood University as the first ever Division I men's basketball player in school history. Sumter, who served as the team captain, led the team in scoring, steals and second in rebounding and blocks as a junior and a senior. In both seasons he was named first team All-Independent team and to the All-State third team. He was also named Male Athlete of the Year at Longwood. He was named top five greatest players of all time in the school's history by ESPN. Sumter finished his impressive career top five all-time leaders in scoring (1,604), rebounding (667), assists (274) steals (209) and blocks (135).
After completing his career at Longwood University, Sumter played three years professionally making stops in Holland, Portugal and Macedonia. Each season his team reached the playoffs with Sumter being the leading scorer (25 points per game) in Portugal and received All-Bosman and All-League honors. His playing career was ended after his third professional season due to an ACL injury.
Sumter earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Longwood in 2013.