Jess Abrahams, who was a member of the Minnesota State University-Mankato coaching staff the past four years, has been named the new assistant women's basketball coach at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

“I am extremely excited to be joining the Bulldog basketball family and becoming part of a program which has such a great tradition,” said Abrahams. “Having the opportunity to work alongside a proven winner like (UMD rookie head coach) Annette Wiles as UMD rejoins the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference is also something I'm really looking forward to.”

Abrahams, 27, was elevated to a full-time assistant coaching position in 2007-08 when the Mavericks posted a 23-9 overall record and advanced to the NCAA II North Central Regional Championship. She spent the previous three seasons at MSU-Mankato in a graduate assistant capacity.

A native of Detroit Lakes, Minn., Abrahams was a four-year basketball letterwinner at St. Cloud State University and received All-North Central Conference honorable mention acclaim as both a sophomore and junior. She started in the Husky backcourt for three seasons, finishing with over 1,060 career points, and captained St. Cloud State as a senior in 2003-04. Abrahams, who was a medical redshirt with the 2002-03 Huskies, currently ranks fifth on the club's all-time list for three-point field goals made with 124 in 114 games.

Abrahams graduated from St. Cloud State University in 2005 with B.S. degrees in physical education and health education and earned a Master's degree in physical education from MSU-Mankato two years later.