49ers’ Cara Consuegra always knew what she wanted from basketball

Cara Consuegra knew she would be a coach.

She knew a long time ago — before she led her Maryland high school team to a pair of state championships, and before she set records at the University of Iowa, both as a player.

Even when she was drafted into the WNBA, she was thinking, “coach.”

“All through high school and college, I thought about being a coach someday,” Consuegra said earlier this week, as she prepared her Charlotte 49ers’ women’s basketball team for an appearance in the WNIT.

The 49ers (10-10) will face Florida (11-13) at 5 p.m. Friday in one of four first-round WNIT games at Bojangles Coliseum.

A Charlotte victory would make Consuegra, 42, the winningest coach in the program’s 36-year history.

From the beginning

Consuegra spent the first part of her life being an outstanding basketball player.

She learned the game in the Frederick County (Md.) YMCA league and led Linganore High to the 2A state championship in 1996 and the 3A title a year later. The Lancers once had a 55-game win streak with Consuegra at point guard.

She went to Iowa, setting single-season and career records for assists, and then the Utah Starzz selected Consuegra in the fourth round of the 2001 WNBA Draft.

But even during her succesful playing days, Consuegra said she knew she’d be a coach one day.

“I had a coach in middle school, Michael Safanos, who got me interested in it,” she said. “He asked me later to help him coach the team, and I was hooked.”

After a year in a reserve role with the Starzz, Consuegra pursued her life’s dream.

She was the director of operations for the women’s basketball program at Penn State from 2001-04, then an assistant at Marquette until 2011.

In 2011, then-athletics director Judy Rose picked Consuegra to fill the head coaching vacancy with the 49ers. Rose, the program’s first coach in 1976, cited Consuegra’s “knowledge and passion for the game.”

Since then, the 49ers have an overall record of 175-123, with five appearances in the WNIT. That included a 26-6 record in the 2012-13 season and 21-10 four years later. Her victory total is tied with Ed Baldwin, who coached from 1989-2001.

“I’m proud of our consistency,” she said. “We’ve been consistently good. Over time, we’ve established ourselves as a solid program.”

The 49ers regularly tackle a tough nonconference schedule. This season, that included ACC foes North Carolina, Clemson and Wake Forest.

Looking forward

Consuegra said a Conference USA championship and resulting NCAA berth is a major goal.

“That’s been elusive,” she said. “But I know we can get there.”

The 49ers might have gotten there this season, if not for a series of injuries that often left Consuegra and her staff with only six or seven able-bodied players.

“People might look at that 10-10 record and not be impressed,” she said. “But our NET ranking caught the attention of the WNIT. We have a good team.”

“We’ve never had a game where everyone felt good at the same time,” she added. “That’s why I know we’re capable of so much more.”

The NET rankings, used by the NCAA to pick at-large teams for its basketball tournaments, had the 49ers ranked second-best in Conference USA.

Consuegra said a double-overtime loss in the conference tournament was demoralizing, but she said the 49ers have recovered emotionally and are excited about playing a postseason tournament in Charlotte.

“Getting to play before family and friends is a big deal,” she said. “With COVID, we haven’t had much of that this season. This will be a treat.”

Consuegra, who has been married for 12 years and is the mother of two elementary school-age sons, said this will be her first visit to Bojangles Coliseum — as a coach.

“I’ve been there before, but it was for ‘Sesame Street on Ice’,” she said with a laugh. “This will be quite a bit different.”

WNIT in Charlotte

The WNIT this season has a 32-team field, with four regional sites. Games in Charlotte are set for Friday, Saturday and Monday, with Friday’s losers competing in a consolation bracket. The four regional winners advance to the national semifinals and finals, March 26 and 28 in Memphis.

The first-round schedule in Charlotte: Fordham (12-4) vs. Delaware (21-4), 11 a.m.; Ohio (14-8) vs. Clemson (11-13), 2 p.m.; Charlotte vs. Florida, 5 p.m.; and UMass (14-7) vs. Villanova (15-6), 8 p.m.

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle

This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 2:13 PM with the headline "49ers’ Cara Consuegra always knew what she wanted from basketball."