One of the top scorers in Chattanooga girls’ prep basketball history is taking charge of an area program that produced a McDonald’s All-American this decade.
East Hamilton High School made a splash hire with the addition of Mariah Cummings as the next head coach of the Lady Hurricanes, a move the school announced Thursday.
A 2013 graduate of Silverdale Baptist Academy, Cummings (formerly Massengill) is the career scoring leader at her alma mater with 2,466 points. She averaged 31.5 points per game for the Lady Seahawks as a junior, which led to her being rated as one of the nation’s top 50 point guards by college recruiting services.
She arrives at Hurricane Hill with nine years of coaching experience, most recently serving as an assistant for the Chattanooga State women’s program this past season. Cummings led the Grace Academy girls’ basketball program from 2019 to 2024.
“This time last year I was a finalist for this very position, but I pulled my name from consideration,” said Cummings, who averaged nearly nine points and four assists per game for Eastern Kentucky University as a senior during the 2016-17 season. “I had just had my daughter, and postpartum was real. I knew I needed to step back and focus on what mattered most in that season. At that time, I honestly thought I might be done coaching, but God’s timing always proves better than my own.