Lakewood welcomes back Chasity Melvin as next girls basketball head coach

In 1994, Chasity Melvin was the MVP of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A Girls Basketball State Championship as she led Lakewood to its first, and still its only, title. 

Thirty-two years later, Melvin is returning home as head coach of the Leopards’ girls basketball program.

"I am excited to return to my alma mater and lead the program that helped shape me as both a player and a person,” Melvin said in a statement shared by Lakewood on Facebook. “My goal is to build a championship culture, develop confident young women on and off the court, and help return Lakewood basketball to championship contention. There’s no place I’d rather continue my coaching journey than right here at home."

According to the school, Melvin will be joined on the sidelines this upcoming season by another member of the 1994 Leopard championship squad — Danielle Koonce — who delivered a buzzer-beater to send Lakewood to the championship game 32 years ago. Koonce will be an assistant coach.

Melvin has a remarkable resume in the world of basketball. Not only was she a standout player at Lakewood, she went on to play at NC State. In Raleigh, she was the 1995 ACC Rookie of the Year and went on to have an illustrious career with the Wolfpack that included All-ACC and All-American honors. She even led NCSU women’s basketball to the program’s very first Final Four in 1998. 

She went on to be drafted with the 11th pick by the Cleveland Rockers in the 1999 WNBA Draft. Melvin played in the WNBA for 12 seasons for four teams. She was an All-Star during the 2001 season.

During the WNBA offseasons, Melvin built an impressive international basketball career as well. In all, she has over 30 years of basketball experience, including an array of coaching opportunities at the high school, college, and professional levels. 

She was an assistant coach for the Phoenix Mercury in 2021 when the franchise reached the WNBA Finals. Prior to that, she was the first woman to coach in the Charlotte Hornets organization as an assistant for the franchise’s G-League affiliate Greensboro Swarm. 

Melvin also spent time as the head coach at Green Hope High School in 2022-23 and has been with several Division I women’s basketball programs as an assistant, including UNC-Asheville. 

Lakewood girls basketball is coming off a 20-8 season in 2025-26 in which it reached the fourth round of the NCHSAA 1A state playoffs.