Oral Roberts promotes Cussen to head coach

Longtime assistant Misti Cussen has been named the new women's basketball coach at Oral Roberts, getting a promotion after Jerry Finkbeiner left to take over the program at Utah State.

TULSA, Okla. -- Longtime assistant Misti Cussen has been named the new women's basketball coach at Oral Roberts, getting a promotion after Jerry Finkbeiner left to take over at Utah State.

Cussen, who spent the past 16 seasons as Finkbeiner's top assistant, was introduced on Friday.

Cussen started college at Kansas before transferring to play her final two seasons at Southern Nazarene in suburban Oklahoma City. She was part of Finkbeiner's staff as the Golden Eagles made the first five NCAA tournament appearances in the program's history.

She'll return the program's career scoring record-holder, Kevi Luper, who led the nation two seasons ago and was second last season behind Delaware's Elena Delle Donne.