Chelsea Banbury was named the fifth Division I head coach of High Point University’s women’s basketball team in June 2019. Banbury enters her seventh season with the Panthers.
In her sixth season coaching the High Point Panthers, Banbury clinched the program's third Big South Regular-Season Championship in five years, it's second Big South Title, and made its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament as they were selected to play No. 16 William & Mary in a play-in game. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 21-12 overall record, and a 13-3 record in the Big South. In December, High Point secured its first Power 5 win under Banbury as the Panthers defeated the University of Central Florida, 64-60, in Orlando. With the win in Orlando, HPU became the second team in Big South history to take down a Big 12 opponent.
On January 8, Banbury earned her 100th career win as the head coach of the Panthers with a 78-51 victory over Charleston Southern in the Qubein Center. Banbury was the fastest coach in the HPU Division I era to reach 100 wins and the third fastest in Big South history.
Four Panthers were listed to All-Conference teams. Nevaeh Zavala was tabbed with Big South First Team honors as Nakyah Terrell and Jaleesa Lawrence were listed to the Big South Second Team. Freshman guard Dom Nesland earned a spot on the All-Freshman team, and Lawrence was also placed on the All-Academic team for her performance in the classroom. Zavala, and Aaliyah Collins earned Big South All-Tournament honors as Lawrence was tabbed the tournament MVP.
In her fifth season as the head coach of the Panthers, Banbury led her team to a 20-12 overall record, and a 14-2 record in the Big South as they took home the regular season title. Banbury was named the 2024 Big South Coach of the Year. High Point made it back to the Big South Tournament semifinal game running on a 11-game win streak, but this time fell short to Presbyterian, 50-59. The Panthers earned a spot in the inaugural WBIT Tournament, as they drew a match up with No. 4 Virginia in the first round. Banbury produced a winning team once again in her fifth season as the Panthers continued to dominate in conference play. Three Panthers earned All-Conference awards as Lauren Bevis was tabbed with Big South Player of the Year. Nakyah Terrell was named to the Big South Second Team, while Callie Scheier was tabbed with Big South All-Academic Team.
Banbury in her fourth season, led the Panthers to a 17-15 overall record with a 13-5 record in the Big South. She took her team to the Big South tournament once again but falling short in the championship game 61-74 against Gardner-Webb. The Panthers clinched their spot in the WNIT and were knocked out in the first round by the Clemson Tigers. Banbury continued to bring the three point style offense to the court, with the Panthers finishing on top of the three point category in the Big South with 249 made and averaging 7.8 a game. Skyler Curran continues to shine under Banbury's management finishing top three in points scored in the Big South conference.
Banbury helped the Panthers to a 15-14 overall record and a 13-5 conference record in her third year at High Point. She made her second consecutive appearance at the Big South Tournament, but fell to Gardner-Webb University in the quarterfinals, 55-53. Banbury coached a defensive team as HPU was first in the Big South conference for defensive rebounds at 824, averaging 26.6 a game. Jenson Edwards led the team with 197 defensive rebounds, landing her second in the conference.
In her second season leading the Panthers, High Point won its third Big South regular season championship and won the Big South Tournament for the first time in program history to earn the team’s first berth in the NCAA Tournament. Banbury once again produced the Big South Player of the Year as Skyler Curran won the award in 2021 after Camryn Brown was honored the previous season. She was named the Big South Coach of the Year after winning both championships in 2021. She had 32 wins after 50 games coached at HPU for the most wins in a head coach’s first 50 games in High Point’s Division I history. Once again, Branbury utilized her three-point style of offense to lead the Panthers to finishing top three in the nation in three-point field goals made and attempted.
In her first season, Banbury produced High Point's fourth Big South Player of the Year, Camryn Brown. Banbury brought the three-point style of offense with her from Florida Gulf Coast University, with the Panthers finishing in the top three in the nation in three-point field goals made and attempted and set program records for both with 305 makes in 917 attempts. Unfortunately, Banbury was unable to take her girls to the Big South Championships as the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Banbury joined the Panthers after serving 11 years on the coaching staff at FGCU, including the last five as the Eagles’ associate head coach. During her 11-year coaching career at FGCU, the Eagles produced a 306-72 overall record with a 173-13 conference record. The Eagles played in the NCAA Tournament or WNIT in all 11 seasons and captured nine regular season conference titles and six conference tournament crowns.
FGCU advanced twice with Banbury on the coaching staff to the NCAA Second Round in 2015 and 2018 and was the WNIT runner-up in 2016. The Eagles finished in the national rankings at No. 21 in 2014-15 and No. 25 in 2017-18. The Eagles were in the top five in 3-point field goals made in each of the last three seasons, including No. 3 in 2016-17, No. 1 in 2017-18 and No. 4 in 2018-19. In addition, Banbury-coached Eagle squads picked up wins over national-ranked opponents, including No. 15 Missouri, No. 20 Kentucky and No. 21 DePaul.
Banbury played women’s basketball and earned two degrees at FGCU – a bachelor’s in finance in 2007 and a master’s in business administration in 2010. In 2008, she was the female recipient of the Eagle Scholar-Athlete Award, which went to the student-athlete with the highest GPA.
The Fort Collins, Colo., native played basketball at Poudre High School where she was named First Team All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-Colorado. Banbury is joined in High Point by her husband, Greg, son, Jackson, and daughter, Hartley.
