Shibles Completes Hiring Women's Basketball Staff for 2021-22

HANOVER, N.H. – Adrienne Shibles, the Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 and Family Head Coach of Dartmouth Women's Basketball, has completed her staff with the hiring of Sarah Assante as second assistant and Lydia Caputi as director of operations.

Assante spent two years as an assistant coach at Washington and Lee University, where she helped coach the Generals to an 18-8 overall record in 2019-20 and a 15-3 mark in the ODAC, earning the team the No. 2 seed for the conference championship. That season also included a program-record 10-game winning streak as the team won all but one of its 14 games that ended the regular season. Before that, Assante was an assistant at Regis for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, while also serving as the assistant strength and conditioning coach during her second year.

A 2015 graduate of Saint Joseph's, Assante was a four-year member of the basketball team and served as captain for her final two seasons. She graduated with a degree in business administration and accounting before getting her master's in organizational and professional communication from Regis in 2019.

"I am so excited that Sarah has joined our Dartmouth team," Shibles said. "Her passion for player development, the recruitment of mission-aligned student-athletes, culture creation and inclusion will benefit our program immensely, and I am eager to collaborate with her."

Caputi was an assistant coach at Trinity for three seasons before heading to Hanover. Throughout the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, she helped the Bantams to a 35-15 record and two conference championship appearances, plus recruited and developed the 2020 NESCAC Rookie of the Year Bria Fuller as well as the 2020 NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year Peace Kabari. In all, she recruited 11 student-athletes to the classes of 2023 and 2024.

She graduated from Bowdoin with a degree in sociology, and gender, sexuality and women studies in 2018. Caputi played for the Polar Bears' women's basketball team, ending her career as a three-year starter with four NCAA appearances and a 97-20 record. She went on to earn her master's in public policy from Trinity in 2020.

"Lydia brings a wealth of experience that will serve our program well," Shibles continued. "She is a dynamic and dedicated professional who adds considerable talent to our staff. Lydia's enthusiasm and optimism are infectious, and these qualities will promote immediate growth within our program."

Assante and Caputi combine with assistant coach Megan Phelps, whose hiring was announced two weeks ago, to make up Shibles' staff.

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