SANFORD - Central Carolina Community College's Lady Cougars basketball program returns for the 2013-14 season, with Eric Davidson as head coach.

Davidson, an alumnus of CCCC (1995) and Campbell University (2002), served as head coach of the Lee Christian School varsity women's basketball program from 2008-13. He had served as assistant coach for the eight previous seasons. In addition to head coaching duties, Davidson served as athletic director at LCS for the last six years of his 15-year teaching and coaching career.

"I'm extremely excited to have the opportunity to coach at the junior college level and to be a part of CCCC athletics," said Davidson. "My goal is to build a winning program while having a positive impact in the lives of our student-athletes. Right now my focus is recruiting female student-athletes who are fierce competitors and will fit our system."

CCCC will field a women's basketball program for the first time since the 2011-12 season. The Lady Cougars are part of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) District 10, Division III. The team will compete in the Tarheel Conference against other member schools across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Home games will be played at the Sanford campus.

"I am very excited to have Coach Davidson at CCCC," said Mike Neal, director of Student Activities. "He is a product of our college, having been involved in student activities in the early 90s. He has run a successful program at Lee Christian that developed the whole student. That is how we will gauge success here as well. Wins are great, but meeting the academic needs of our student-athletes is as important, if not more so."

Davidson will release the 2013-14 women's basketball schedule and roster at a later date. For full information on the Lady Cougars program, visit www.cccc.edu/sports or contact Davidson at edavidson@cccc.edu.