Nikki McCray-Penson, a former Lady Vols basketball star and Mississippi State coach, has died, a Rutgers spokesperson confirmed to Knox News on Friday. She was 51.

A cause of death was not immediately clear for McCray-Penson, who spent last season as an assistant for Rutgers women’s basketball.

McCray-Penson was a two-time SEC Player of the Year at Tennessee in 1994 and 1995 after a decorated career at Collierville High School near Memphis. She spent 16 years coaching after her playing career, which landed her in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Her coaching career included stops at South Carolina as an assistant to Dawn Staley and head coaching jobs at Old Dominion and Mississippi State.

McCray-Penson led Tennessee to three SEC regular-season championships, two SEC Tournament titles and a 1995 Final Four appearance. She was a two-time All-American.

McCray-Penson previously battled breast cancer in 2013. When she resigned at Mississippi State in 2021, she cited “unspecified health concerns she hoped were behind her,” according to ESPN.

On Friday, Tennessee senior forward Rickea Jackson, who played for McCray-Penson at Mississippi State before transferring, tweeted what McCray-Penson meant to her Friday morning.

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