Morgan State women’s basketball won just one of its first 11 games of the 2025-26 season under first-year head coach Nadine Domond and is in the middle of an overhaul. While it may not look exactly the way she envisioned at the beginning of the season, Domond’s mission remains the same.
Domond is embarking on a journey that she hopes ends with her team hoisting a MEAC title in the coming seasons. She is remaining positive and looking forward to what can come. After all, she learned from playing for and coaching with the legendary C. Vivian Stringer while at Iowa and with Rutgers.
“I’m super excited because the girls have been working extremely hard and they’ve been working their butts off,” Domond said. “I’m so proud of what they do every day because it’s been a challenge for them to buy in to what they’re doing. For them to come in and to give their all is what I’m excited about.”
Domond’s ability to build up programs is why she was hired for the job. There’s a “hunger,” as Morgan State president David K. Wilson said in April when she was hired. Her mentor Stringer got her start at Cheyney University, another HBCU, and led the program to the first-ever NCAA women’s Final Four in 1982. She followed that up with another Final Four appearance just 11 years later with Iowa. Stringer went on to reach two more Final Fours with Rutgers.
The 50-year-old Domond also got her start in coaching at an HBCU, working as a grad assistant and then a full-time assistant at Hampton from 2002-2005. She then became a head coach at Grambling State (2014-2016) and Division II Virginia State (2022-2025). She was named the CIAA’s Women’s Coach of the Year in 2024-25 for her efforts with the Lady Trojans, who went 23-7 last season.
The start of this season has been more of a struggle. Morgan fell to Division III powerhouse Johns Hopkins, 75-59, in front of a home crowd at Hill Field House in November despite no Hopkins player scoring more than 10 points. The Lady Bears lost to ACC teams Virginia and Wake Forest by a combined score of 179-71. They lost to SEC foe Kentucky, 101-39.
However, Domond likes what she is seeing from her group as she implements her system.
“What I love the most about these ladies here is that they love to play together and have fun,” Domond said. “And they do what I ask them to do.”
The weight of losing could take its toll, but the leaders of the program have found other ways to keep pushing forward. Senior Gabrielle Johnson won the Class 4A state title with nearby Western High School in 2022. Johnson grew up playing city championship games at Morgan State, so it felt natural for her to join the program that she has followed since childhood. She enjoys every opportunity to learn from the coaching staff.
Johnson was part of a talented Lady Bears squad in 2022-23 that went 17-12 under the tutelage of longtime head coach Ed Davis Jr., who spent 13 seasons with the program (eight as the head coach, five as an assistant coach). One thing that stood out was the team’s mental preparation in that season.
But that preparation began to falter during the past two seasons. According to Johnson, some players began to check out in their heads, their thoughts swirling and not allowing them to buy into the system that Davis put forth. Morgan went 8-22 in 2023-24 and followed it up with a 13-17 mark in Davis’ final season. Being able to keep a focused mind through all of the turmoil is something that Domond looks to emphasize going forward. She hired mental performance coach Charles Bell after she came on board.
“Just having a coach there — if you’re having a bad day, he can talk to you,” Johnson said. “If you’re having an off day, he can teach you how to get through it. He goes in the gym with you, if you feel like your shot isn’t falling or you’re mentally not there. We do a lot of off-court stuff with mental performance, too. We do a mental performance task before every practice. Her allowing us to have that really put spotlights on everybody’s mental health and now I feel like we’re taking it serious.”
Morgan State doesn’t begin MEAC play until Jan. 3 against Maryland Eastern Shore. The trials and tribulations of a difficult nonconference schedule could prepare the Lady Bears for contests with more familiar foes.
“I feel like the team can turn it around because like Coach [Domond] says, ‘We’re under construction,'” Johnson said. “We’re still running the system and everybody is still learning how to play with each other. Right now we’re playing a lot of individual ball, but we’re growing every day. We’re also working hard in practice every day, going at each other a little harder. We’re just going harder overall just to find [a] rhythm for the season.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of MSU Athletics
Issue 296: December 2025 / January 2026
Originally published Dec. 17, 2025