After serving as the interim head coach for the 2020-21 season, Semeka Randall Lay was named the 17th head coach in Winthrop women's basketball history in April 2021. Randall Lay joined the Eagles as Associate Head Coach prior to the 2019-20 season.
In her first season as the permanent head coach in 2021-22, Randall Lay led the Eagles to big victories over long-time conference rivals Presbyterian, UNC-Asheville and Charleston Southern and Radford.
In her second full season as the permanent head coach in 2022-23, Randall Lay saw the Eagles pick up their first win of the season against Division II St. Andrew's (NC) by a final score of 60-29 and in the process set two new records: fewest points allowed in the first half since becoming a Division I member in 1986-87 and the 29 points allowed by Winthrop is the eighth-lowest for fewest points allowed in a game since becoming a Division I member in 1986-87. She also saw the Eagles get a regular-season sweep of the-then defending conference champions Longwood and then USC Upstate on consecutive days and watched Paige Powell and Leonor Paisana take home All-Conference honors.
In her third full season as the permanent head coach in 2023-24, Randall-Lay saw the Eagles register a sweep of Longwood for the second straight year and snapped long skids in the series with UNC Asheville and Gardner-Webb. Most notably the Eagles had overtime victories over UNC Asheville on the road and Radford at home and sweeping Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville for the first time in nearly a decade. Randall-Lay also coached the program’s 600th all-time win at South Carolina State, was named to the 2024 American Basketball Hall of Fame, captured her 100th career coaching victory vs. Longwood at home, and saw Marissa Gasaway and Jada Ryce take home All-Conference honors.
Before coming to Winthrop, she spent the 2018-19 season at the University of Cincinnati as an assistant coach where she helped the team earn 24 wins and make a run in the WNIT. It was the program’s first 20-win season in over 15 years.
Prior to her season at Cincinnati, she spent two seasons at Wright State as an assistant coach where the program had back-to-back 20-win seasons. In those two seasons the program also made two trips to the WNIT.
Randall Lay brings a wealth of coaching experience having also been a head coach of two NCAA Division I programs. She began her head coaching career at Ohio where she spent four seasons before taking the head coaching job at Alabama A & M University from 2013-16.
Before taking her first head coaching job, Randall-Lay was an assistant coach at West Virginia (2007-08), Michigan State (2005-07), and Cleveland State (2002-03). During her tenure at Michigan State, the Spartans played for the national championship in 2005, advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2006 and made it to the NCAA second round in 2007.
A standout guard at Tennessee from 1998-2001, Randall-Lay earned Kodak All-America First Team honors in 1999 and 2000. She was an integral part of Tennessee’s 1998 NCAA Championship team that went 39-0, averaging 15.9 points a game while earning honorable mention All-America recognition.
In addition to her All-America honors, she was named the Women’s Basketball Journal’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1999 and 2000, First Team All-Southeastern Conference in 1999 and 2000, Second Team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman Team in 1998, and was on the NCAA Mideast Regional All-Tournament team in 1998 and 2000.
Randall Lay scored 1,915 points during her career at Tennessee (13.7 ppg) and added 716 rebounds (5.1 rpg), 286 steals and 236 assists. She ranks fifth on the Lady Vols’ career charts in both points and steals, and third in free throws made (439). Tennessee posted a record of 134-10 during her four-year career, including championship appearances in 1998 and 2000. During the summer of 1998, Randall Lay was the leading scorer for the gold medal-winning USA Jones Cup team.
Randall Lay was the first player chosen in the second round (17th overall) of the 2001 WNBA draft by the Seattle Storm. She started 30 of 32 games as a rookie, averaging a career-best 9.4 points. She averaged 5.8 points during her 123-game WNBA career, including 55 starts.
In 2001-02, she started all 16 games at point guard and averaged 19 points while playing for the Israeli Professional Basketball League. She played in the Greek Professional Basketball League in 2002-03, again starting all 16 games for her squad. In 2003, she was a member of the Tennessee Fury of the National Women’s Basketball League, averaging 12.2 points as a shooting guard.
In 2004, she completed her four-year WNBA career which included stops in Seattle (2001-02), Utah (2002) and San Antonio (2003-04).
Prior to her exemplary playing career at Tennessee and in the professional ranks, Randall Lay was an accomplished basketball player in high school. She was Parade Magazine’s Player of the Year and a First Team All-American in 1997 while starring at Trinity High School in Garfield Heights, Ohio. She was Ohio’s Miss Basketball in 1996 and 1997, a member of the 1996 and 1997 USA Junior World Championship Qualifying Teams, the MVP of the Ohio state basketball tournament in 1994 and 1996 and the Gatorade Circle of Champions Midwest Player of the Year in 1997. She was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame on May 17, 2008.
Randall Lay graduated from Tennessee in December of 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications.
