BALTIMORE, Md. (Sept. 25, 2022)--Morgan State head women's basketball coach Ed Davis, Jr. finalized his coaching staff with the hiring of Danielle Durjan as an assistant coach. Durjan comes to Morgan State after spending the last three years at nearby Community College of Baltimore County Essex (CCBC Essex).
 
Durjan's hire rounds out the 2022-23 coaching staff. In August, Davis hired former Lady Bear standout Tykyrah Williams as an assistant coach.
           
"What Danielle brings is more diversity to the program in player development and having played at a JUCO that specialized in high level scoring," said Davis. "She can help us utilize those skills in player development in our players. And she brings organization in terms of listening, team organization and structure, and social media as it pertains to basketball."
 
Under the mentorship of CCBC Essex head coach Mike Seney, Durjan helped the Knights accumulate a 64-3 overall record in two full seasons, which included a NJCAA D2 record-breaking 53-game win streak and an undefeated record against conference opponents (32-0).
 
"I'm super thankful for this opportunity to join Coach Davis and his staff here at Morgan State, being from Maryland and finishing my collegiate playing career just up the street from Morgan at Towson University.," said Durjan. "Baltimore has a special place in my heart. Morgan State University is a well-known prestigious and historical institution, and I am grateful to be apart of the Lady Bears. I love the vision Coach Davis has for this program and I'm excited to grow and learn."
 
A native of Gaithersburg, Md., Durjan was a three-year captain at Watkins Mill High School, where she averaged 21 points per game, scored more than 1,200 career points and was an All-Met Team selection by The Washington Post. She graduated from Towson with a bachelor's degree in communication studies.
 
Last season at CCBC Essex, Durjan was promoted to associate head coach, which her duties included recruiting, developing game scouting reports, facilitating daily practice plans and ideologies, contributing offensive schemes to the team's playbook, focusing on player academic success, and running social media accounts. Durjan also assisted in player development, specifically with the guards. She worked on ball handling, shooting, and overall game IQ.

Some of the players Durjan worked with were current NJCAA D2 All-American guards Kasey Gagan, Mya Moye, Lyric Swann, and Patricia Anumgba. Durjan's contributions to her team helped them reach the Final Four in the NJCAA national tournament, as well as a Region XX championship and Maryland JUCO Conference championship. The Knights also finished the season ranked third in the nation finishing the 2021-22 season with a 34-1 mark.

In the 2020-21 season Durjan was promoted to recruiting coordinator. Unfortunately, the Knights' season was canceled due to CoVID-19, but Durjan assisted in bringing in the most highly-ranked recruiting class in program history with six Division I transfers.

Durjan's first season with the Knights was in the fall of 2019. The CCBC Essex did not have a women's basketball program in 15 years prior to Durjan and the staff's arrival, but the Knights finished 30-2 and won both the Maryland JUCO Conference and Region XX titles. They were granted an automatic bid into the NJCAA National Tournament.

Durjan was a four-year women's basketball student-athlete, spending one season at Sacred Heart (2015-16), one at Harford Community College (Md.) (2016-17), before finishing the final two seasons of her playing career at Towson University (2017-19).

At Harford, Durjan helped the Fighting Owls to a 29-4 record, and a conference and regional championship, while reaching the round of 16 at the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship. That same season, Durjan earned NJCAA All-America honors. 

As a senior captain, Duran helped the Towson Tigers to their first Colonial Athletic Association championship and first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament in school history in 2018-19. She finished her Towson career with 434 career points, 76 steals, 191 rebounds and shot 79 percent from the free throw line.
 
 
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.