Lenise Stallings enters her sixth season as Chowan’s head women’s basketball coach.
During the 2024-25 season, Stallings led the team to a 19-6 overall record and a 15-5 record in league play. The Hawks made their sixth straight appearance in the Conference Carolinas Championship earning a spot in the D2CSC Women's Basketball Poll, ranking 8th.The Hawks were a force to be reckoned with on the NCAA leader board this season. Ranked 1st in field goal percentage defense, 1st in rebound margin, 2nd in offensive rebounds, 2nd in rebounds per game, 5th in scoring defense, 18th in bench points per game, 34th in winning percentage, and 35th in steals per game. Yasmine Brown and Meara Carter both earned All-Conference recognition, as Brown earned Second Team All-Conference and Carter earned a spot on the All-Defensive team.
During the 2023-24 season, Stallings led the team to a 13-10 overall record and a 13-5 record in league play. The Hawks made their fifth straight appearance in the Conference Carolinas Championship with a player receiving a first team all-conference recognition.
In 2022-23, Stallings produced her second straight 18-win season going 18-11 overall and 12-8 in league play. The Hawks made their second straight trip to the Conference Carolinas Semifinals and fourth straight appearance in the Conference Carolinas Championship. Stallings would aid in the progress of Destiny Robinson as Robinson would be named Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year as the forward led the league in blocks (66) and rebounds (251). Robinson would also be named First Team All-Conference while achieving 1,000 career points and broke the Chowan DII record in career rebounds and double-doubles.
For the 2021-22 season, the Hawks posted an 18-10 overall record and an impressive 17-7 record in league play. Chowan would make their first-ever trip to the Conference Carolinas Semifinals. Destiny Robinson would garner Conference Carolinas Second Team All-Conference honors.
During the 2020-21 season, Stallings led the program to a 7-8 overall record and a 7-7 mark in Conference Carolinas play. The 7-7 league record was the best mark during the Hawks' transition into the Conference Carolinas. Chowan averaged 67.3 points per game, up nearly six points per game from 2019-20 and the most since the 2017-18 season. Stallings helped guide Monique Jones to a Third Team All-Conference selection.
Stallings comes to Chowan after a season at Wiley College (NAIA) in Marshall, Texas. During her stint with the Wildcats, Stallings orchestrated a winning season for the first time in three seasons. The Wildcats went 14-13 overall and 11-7 in the Red River Athletic Conference and an appearance in the RRAC semifinals. Stallings would help Brianna Tolliver to a First Team All-Conference selection, and Kyani Moore to being named RRAC Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-Conference.
Under Stallings, the Wildcats saw drastic changes on both sides of the court. Wiley averaged 8.9 more points per game, while lowering their opponent’s points per game by 2.3. Defensively, the Wildcats improved from seventh to second in field goal defense. The most improved change came on the glass as the Wildcats under Stallings went from the worst rebounding margin (-4.37 in 2018-19) to the league’s best (6.85 in 2019-20).
Prior to Wiley, Stallings spent two seasons as the assistant coach at Tennessee State following former Mississippi Valley State head coach Jessica Kern to TSU. Lenise helped the Tigers secure the program’s largest recruiting class and a spot in the top-25 most improved Division I women’s basketball programs.
Stallings started her coaching career at Mississippi Valley State in 2016-17 as an assistant coach after serving as a graduate assistant from 2014-2016.
The Hattiesburg, Miss. native played her collegiate career at Mississippi Valley State. During her playing career, Stallings appeared in 124 career games, amassing 739 points, 198 made three-pointers, while shooting 35.1% from behind the arc. Stallings and the Devilettes were named SWAC Regular Season Champions and received a bid to the WNIT in 2011-12, and appeared in the SWAC Conference Championship game in 2012-13. During the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, Stallings led the SWAC in three-point field goal percentage.
Stallings earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from MVSU in 2013 and master’s degree in Bioinformatics in 2016.
Lenise resides in the Murfreesboro area with her husband and two daughters, Kyia and Brooklyn.
