December 7, 2020

50 years of Tennessee Tech Women's Basketball -- Cassity, Burgess Hastings set the stage for early success

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With the first year finished and the Tennessee Tech women’s basketball team officially off the ground, there were many players who were helping the program take flight. From the span of 1973 to 1978, the names Pam Cassity and Gayle Burgess Hastings shine among the brightest. That span saw three Tennessee College Women’s Sports Federation state championships, three AIAW regional crowns and four AIAW national tournament appearances. That five-year run for the Tech women were a legendary one as the Golden Eagles went 26-5 in 1973-74, 27-5 in 1974-75, 28-2 in 1975-76, 28-8 in 1976-77 and 19-14 in 1977-78.

By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With the first year finished and the Tennessee Tech women's basketball team officially off the ground, there were many players who were helping the program take flight.

From the span of 1973 to 1978, the names Pam Cassity and Gayle Burgess Hastings shine among the brightest. That span saw three Tennessee College Women's Sports Federation state championships, three AIAW regional crowns and four AIAW national tournament appearances.

That five-year run for the Tech women was a legendary one as the Golden Eagles went 26-5 in 1973-74, 27-5 in 1974-75, 28-2 in 1975-76, 28-8 in 1976-77 and 19-14 in 1977-78.

Even from the first seven, eight seasons of the 50-year program, those players, along with teammate Pam Peek, still find themselves among the program's all-time leading scorers. Cassity still holds senior games played and rebound single-season records, as well as junior and sophomore rebound titles. Hastings holds on to the junior games played with teammate Janet Bowden, while also holding the sophomore scoring and points averaged mark.

In the career charts, Cassity, a 6-foot center from Pleasant Shade, still ranks 13^th in points with 1,469, Peek 16^th with 1,394 and Burgess Hastings eighth with 1,915. In comparison, Tech's current point leader, senior Jordan Brock, has 1,010 points as the 2020-21 campaign opens.

In rebounds, Cassity still remains on top to this day, collecting an astonishing 1,782 boards over 128 total games, averaging a team-record 13.9 caroms a game. With an 11.5-point average, she could have easily averaged a double-double per game, though she is only officially recognized with 14 career double-doubles, but that is more due to the lack of records from her first couple of seasons.

Her total could rank third all-time in today's NCAA record book, but it stands as an omission as it was before the NCAA sponsored the sport in the dawn of the 1980s. All the numbers mentioned here are back in the old Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women days.

In the single-game records, Cassity owns the top eight spots all-time in rebounds, including a 30-rebound game against Middle Tennessee in 1975-76. She continues to hold the top three seasons in rebounds in program history with 527 in 1975-76, 17.6 per game; 484 in 1976-77, 13.4 per game; and 446 in 1974-75, 14.4 per game. Her freshman campaign was none too shabby either, pulling down 325 boards – eclipsed only by Valeria Russell's 351.

In her career, Cassity garnered all-state, all-district and all-region honors from the AIAW as she helped lead the Eaglettes to four straight AIAW national tournaments. She was a second-team Kodak All-American, and set AIAW Tournament records for rebounds and shooting.

Entering the 2020-21 campaign, Cassity is still among the top 20 in scoring (13^th, 1,469), scoring average (8^th, 16.2), field goals made (11^th, 600), field goals attempted (17^th, 1,046), field goal percentage (7^th, .573), free throws made (17^th, 269), free throws attempted (11^th, 476), rebounds (1^st, 1,782) and rebounds per game (1^st, 13.9).

In her career, Cassity helped lead Tech to a 109-20 record in four years.

Cassity was inducted into the Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.

Burgess Hastings, however, turned out to be a pioneer in that aspect. She was the first woman inducted into the Tech Sports Hall of Fame in the 1989 induction class, leading Tech to a 102-29 record.

According to the Hall of Fame release, Burgess Hastings, a 5-4 guard from nearby Rickman, was the leading all-time scorer for both the women's and men's basketball programs when her career concluded. She earned an all-America nod in 1975-76 and three AIAW all-state picks.

Burgess Hastings led the Golden Eaglettes in scoring in 1975-76 and 1976-77, averaging 20.3 and 15.7 points respectively as she scored 608 and 566 those two years. Only eight players in program history have averaged more points per game than she did in that time.

In the current career charts, she is eighth in points (1,915), ninth in scoring average (14.7), seventh in field goals made (751), seventh in field goals attempted (1,528), 17^th in field goal percentage (.491), seventh in free throws made (413), sixth in free throws attempted (582), eighth in assists (448), 13^th in assists per game (3.4), 19^th in steals (141) and 19^th in steals per game (1.1).