After leading the women’s basketball team to a 22-win season in 2018-19 from only eight wins in 2017-18, head coach Angel Elderkin has accepted a four-year contract extension.

Athletic director Doug Gillin announced the extension on April 8 after the university board of trustees and Chancellor Sheri Everts approved it. The extension runs through 2023.

“I want to thank the Board of Trustees, Chancellor Everts and Doug Gillin for their confidence in me and our program,” Elderkin wrote in a press release. “I’m excited about the future of this university and the team.”

Elderkin started at App State in 2014 and coached the Mountaineers to their best season since 2011-12, culminating in the program’s second Women’s Basketball Invitational Championship on April 3. The Mountaineers also appeared in the semifinals of the 2019 Sun Belt Tournament, their deepest run since joining the conference.

The turnaround from eight wins to 22 is fifth-best in the NCAA 2018-19 season, according to App State Athletics. Twenty-two wins is the seventh-highest win total in program history, and the Mountaineers’ 14-3 home record is a program best.

“We are very excited to have Angel continue to lead our women’s basketball program,” Gillin wrote in a press release. “Under Angel’s leadership, our student-athletes are excelling in the classroom, in the community and on the court.”

Elderkin’s team also finished No. 6 in the country and No. 1 in the Sun Belt in the Play4Kay Free Throw Challenge in February, raising over $3,200 for cancer research.

Elderkin credited every member of her program for its success and her continued stay at App State.

“This is a reflection of the commitment and hard work from an incredible group of student-athletes as well as the most dedicated coaching staff a head coach could ever hope for,” Elderkin wrote in the press release.