Wofford women’s basketball head coach Jimmy Garrity announced on April 14, 2022, the addition of Ashley Raley-Ross as a new assistant coach to his staff, and she completed her third season with the program in 2024-25. Raley-Ross came to Wofford after serving as a coach in Hong Kong for the year prior in 2021. In Raley-Ross's first season on staff, the Terriers claimed the Southern Conference Regular Season Championship and a berth in the WNIT.
Overcoming several key injuries in 2024-25, the Terriers posted another impressive campaign at 17-12 with an 8-6 SoCon clip. Wofford reached the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament for the fifth-straight season. For the third-straight season, a Terrier earned SoCon Player of the Year as Evangelia Paulk won the award, adding SoCon Defensive Player of the Year honors as well. Helen Matthews joined her on the All-SoCon First Team. Libby Privett was honored as the Ann Lashley Inspiration Award winner, and Molly Masingale was tabbed to the SoCon All-Freshman Team. Wofford was 12-2 at home and secured its best-ever start to league play at 6-0. Matthews closed her career in incredible fashion by playing through an elbow injury and still leading the team to the SoCon semifinals while claiming SoCon All-Tournament Team recognition.
The Terriers tallied another solid campaign in 2023-24 with a 17-13 overall record and 8-6 SoCon clip. Wofford advanced to the semifinals of the SoCon Tournament for the fourth-straight season and posted a new program record for home wins with a 13-2 record inside the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. Wofford defeated Virginia 71-70 during the regular season for just the program's second Power Five win and the first over an ACC team. Rachael Rose tallied the program's first triple-double against Furman, and she would finish the season as an Academic All-American and repeating as SoCon Player of the Year. Evangelia Paulk became the third Terrier ever to garner SoCon Freshman of the Year recognition, and Maddie Heiss joined her on the all-freshman team. Annabelle Schultz was named a member of the all-defensive team and coupled that with Third-Team All-SoCon honors.
The 2022-23 season saw unprecedented heights for the Terriers with a 22-10 overall record and 10-4 SoCon clip. Wofford claimed the Southern Conference Regular Season Championship, the first in program history and for any Wofford women's team sport. The 22 wins mark the program's first 20-win season at the Division I level. Rachael Rose was named SoCon Player of the Year and was joined on the All-SoCon Teams by Jackie Carman and Lilly Hatton with Helen Matthews garnering All-Defensive Team honors. As the No. 1 seed, Wofford reached the SoCon Championship for just the second time ever and the second time in three seasons while returning the WNIT for a second consecutive season of postseason play.
“We are really excited to have Ashley join our coaching staff and program,” said Garrity. “She has so much experience in the sport of basketball. She’s been a head coach in AAU, high school and at the collegiate level. Everywhere she’s been she has had tremendous success in developing athletes both on and off the court. Relationships are extremely important to Ashley, and I know she’s going to be a great fit for our program and the Wofford community.”
Raley-Ross had been in Hong Kong since May 2021 when she began working with C2Sports. She has served as the head coach of the U16 New Generation 2nd Division team and as an assistant coach with the U25 Tsuen Wan 2nd Division team and the Division 2 Tsuen Wan men’s pro team. In addition to these coaching duties, Raley-Ross has served as a strength and conditioning coach. With Tsung Tsin Primary School, she has been a teacher and coach, aiding young students with learning both basketball and English.
Before leaving the United States, Raley-Ross served as the head women’s basketball coach at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. from 2019-20. Her squad tied for first place in the EMAC conference and featured two USCAA All-Americans and two players who were named EMAC Co-Player of the Year.
Raley-Ross began her coaching career with Providence Day School in Charlotte as the head girl’s junior varsity coach in 2011. Since then, she helped coach multiple high school and AAU teams in the Charlotte area before leaving the United States for the first time in 2018 to become an assistant coach for the U15 and U17 teams with ŽKK Trešnjevka 2009 in Zagreb, Croatia. She then returned to Charlotte to join Johnson and Wales in 2019.
Ashley Raley-Ross earned her Bachelor of Science in Corporate Communications in 2010 from Queens University in Charlotte where she was also a student-athlete on the women’s basketball team. She is married to her husband Brandis, who played basketball at South Carolina collegiately and currently plays professionally overseas. The couple have a dog, Coco.
