Albion College

Doreen Carden is the most successful coach in the history of the Albion women's basketball program.

Carden's teams have posted winning records in 20 of her 25 seasons as head coach and have played in three MIAA Tournament championship games, with the program's first and only title coming in 2004. She also led the Britons to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2004 and 2005. Additionally, Carden has guided 28 different All-MIAA players (first or second team) — including six different first-team All-MIAA athletes in the last six seasons.

The 2025-26 season was a special one for Carden and the Britons, as they went 19-8 with a seven-win improvement from the year prior and earned the No. 3 seed in the MIAA Tournament reaching their fourth consecutive conference semifinal. A major highlight of the season was Albion's 60-54 overtime victory against No. 9-ranked Hope at Kresge Gymnasium on January 28.

On February 14, Carden earned her 400th career victory in an overtime win at Kalamazoo — scoring 14 points in the final 94 seconds of regulation to tie the game and force the extra period. She became the 41st active head coach in Division III to reach the milestone and joined Hope's Brian Morehouse as the only coaches in MIAA history to accomplish the feat.

The year also saw the emergence of Meghan Trewhella, who became the program's fourth MIAA MVP after she shattered Albion's single-season points record in just 22 games. She led the MIAA in scoring by over 150 points and became the conference's first 500-point scorer since the 2017-18 season. Trewhella ranked top 15 in Division III in points, points per game, free throws and field goals and was named MIAA Player of the Week five times while shooting over 50% from the field on the season.

Ava Guilford also won conference Defensive Player of the Year honors, marking the second time in school history Albion players swept the MIAA individual awards while also being a member of the All-MIAA second team. Guilford led the MIAA with 74 steals and was second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.43). Offensively, she averaged 11.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game and led the conference in minutes per game (37.0).

In 2024-25, Emma Cooke earned first-team All-MIAA honors in which she ranked second in the conference in rebounds.

Albion broke through during the second half of the 2003-04 season, winning 10 of its final 12 games. The Britons defeated the top two seeds on the road to win their first MIAA Tournament championship and to secure the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Albion finished the season with a school-record 23 victories.

Thanks to the outstanding records, Albion has placed 14 players on the MIAA first team during Carden's tenure. The list of Britons achieving All-MIAA first team status includes Amanda Yeager (2002), Sarah Caskey (2003, 2004, and 2005), Ruthie Sventickas (2005), Jaime Fornetti (2006), Jessica Babcock (2007), Brittany Kemperman (2008), Melissa Shaw (2009), Patty Rewa (2011 and 2012), Brett de Bear (2014), Darian Payne (2016) Oreyana Curry (2017), Evelyn Wischmeyer (2018), Rain Hinton (2019, 20, 21), Lolo Reed (2022), Daniah Beavers (2023), Brazyll Watkins (2024) and Emma Cooke (2025).

In addition, Caskey was the MIAA's MVP and a D3hoops.com honorable mention All-American in 2005.

Carden laid the foundation toward a coaching career when she worked at the Wolverine and Oakland University summer camps from 1991-94. She joined the Traverse City All-State Camp, which features some of the top players in Michigan, in 1997.

She returned to Sterling Heights Stevenson as the assistant girls varsity coach for one season in 1997. Carden also served as head coach of the AAU Michigan Raiders from 1997-99. Her 14 and under team advanced to the state tournament.

In 2000, Carden served as the co-coach at St. Clement High School.

As a player, Carden enjoyed success throughout her career. She helped Sterling Heights Stevenson reach the state quarterfinal in 1987 and the state semifinals in 1989. Carden earned Most Valuable Player honors in the Macomb Athletic Conference in 1988 and 1989. She received third team All-County status in 1987, and was promoted to first team All-County in 1988. In 1989, Carden was named All-County Most Valuable Player, first team All-Suburban,first team All-Metro, and third team All-State.

Oakland University won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 1994. Carden served as Oakland's co-captain during the 1992-93 campaign. She was an Academic All-Conference performer in 1993-94 and was voted to six All-Tournament teams.

In addition to her high school coaching resume, Carden had worked as a cytotechnologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit from 1995-2001.

Carden and her husband, Scott, have two daughters, Brooke and Addison, and reside in Albion.