SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Drury University women's basketball head coach Molly Miller announced former Glendale High School and William Woods University standout Julia Wells has been hired as a graduate assistant coach for the Lady Panthers.
 
Last year, Wells served as the ninth girls' basketball coach at Jenks High School in Oklahoma and was as a paraprofessional in the Jenks school district working special education students.
 
Wells graduated from William Woods University with a degree in Communications and had a four-year playing career for the Owls. Wells was an honorable mention NAIA All-American and, as a senior in 2015-16, averaged 8.1 points, eight rebounds, 2.4 assists, and one steal per game. She was also an all-conference selection in 2016 and was named the Co-Freshman of the Year in the American Midwest Conference in 2013. During her career at William Woods, the Owls advanced to the NAIA-I national tournament four times, went a combined 92-38, and won at least 21 games each season. Wells was also a team captain and served as president of the school's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
 
Before arriving at William Woods, Wells helped Glendale High School to a Ozark Conference title and earned three letters while playing for the Falcons. She was awarded all-conference honors three times, was named all-district twice, and scored 892 points during her high school career.
 
"I am excited to welcome Julia to our women's basketball program as our next graduate assistant coach," said Miller. "Her people and communication skills are going to be great assets to our program. She also brings coaching experience from her time at Jenks High School, which is an added bonus as she begins her collegiate coaching career. I believe that experience will allow her to hit the ground running upon arrival. I know our Drury family will warmly welcome Julia back Springfield as she joins our staff in the fall."
 
Wells will join the Lady Panthers coaching staff in August and will take the place of Rachel Swartz who served as Drury's graduate assistant coach in 2018-19 and will earn her Master's degree in Communications later this summer.
 
"We want to thank coach Swartz for her dedication and service to our program this past year," said Miller. "We are so proud of her as she will graduate in August with her Master's in Communications. We have no doubt that her future will be bright as she pursues the next chapter of her career."
 
Swartz was part of a coaching staff that saw the Lady Panthers go 35-1, advance to the NCAA-II national semifinals, have an undefeated regular season, they won the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship, won the Midwest Regional title, and ended the year ranked third in NCAA-II.
 
Head coach Molly Miller will enter her sixth year as head coach of the Drury women's basketball program while assistant coach Emily Ragsdale will be in her second year as a full-time assistant and fourth year with the Lady Panthers, while assistant coach Buck Scheel will enter his second season at Drury in 2019-20. 
 
 
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