New Women’s B-ball assistant coach named

Kristy Baker-Flores was named an assistant women’s basketball coach at Utah State, it was announced by head coach Raegan Pebley on Friday. Flores comes to Utah State after spending seven seasons at Cal Poly, four as a player and the last three as an assistant coach for the Mustangs.

“Kristy is one of the rising stars in coaching and is going to bring a lot to the table,” Pebley said. “She is a tremendous recruiter and has a high basketball IQ.”

In her three seasons as an assistant coach, Cal Poly complied a 35-47 record and produced eight academic all-conference honorees, four Big West honorable mention selections and placed two players on the conference’s all-Freshman team. Last year, the Mustangs led the Big West in both steals (12.04) and turnover margin (+4.48) as they finished the season 11-16 overall and 5-13 in league play.

“I am super excited to join the Utah State family,” Flores said. “In visiting with everyone last week I realized how much potential the program has. USU’s move to the Western Athletic Conference next season is going to allow the program to get to the next level and I am looking forward to helping the players succeed in all they do.”

Flores will assume the responsibilities held by former assistant Tricia Binford, who left Utah State to become the head women’s coach at Montana State. Those responsibilities will include being the recruiting and defensive coordinators and focusing on guard development.

Flores joined the Cal Poly staff prior to the 2003 season, following a stellar four-year Mustang career that was cut short during her senior year by a pair of stress fractures in her left foot. The 5-8 guard played in 12 games and averaged 5.5 points in her last season.

Her career statistics include 88 games played and averages of 8.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. She still holds the school record for assists in a game (12 against Fresno Pacific on Dec. 12, 1998) and minutes played in a season (941). Flores graduated in 2002 from Cal Poly with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

As a sophomore, Flores started all 28 games and earned Big West Player of the Week honors toward the end of the season. Her career scoring high was 25 points at Montana in her freshman season.

A 1994 graduate of Newcastle High School in Australia, Flores was a New South Wales Junior of the Year selection in 1990 and 1991, a 1993 Australia Honorary Team selection and an Australian Junior Training squad member in 1993 and 1994.

She is married to Eric Flores, the two were wed on March 7, 2005.