Ashley Toner enters her first season as a student assistant coach with the Idaho State Bengals after finishing her career as a player for the Bengals.
The native of nearby Burley, ID, played four years for ISU, helping the Bengals to a pair of Big Sky Tournament appearances and the 2001 Big Sky Tournament Championship. With that win the Bengals advanced to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.
Toner was a two-time All-Big Sky selection for the Bengals, including a first team selection in 2001. She was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week three times and was the team MVP for the 2002-03 season.
Toner finished her career ranked among ISU's top-10 in many categories. She is ranked second in scoring in ISU history with 1,342 points and is third in field goals made with 510. Her career field goal percentage of 46.5 is sixth in ISU history. Her 309 career made free throws is second in school history. She had 609 career rebounds, good for ninth in ISU history and 53 blocks, tied for ninth. She played in 112 games, second most in school history.
"It's always nice to have your players come back and want to coach and help in the program. I think that it's a great opportunity for both Ashley and our program. She's really going to help with the post players. She knows what I expect out of post players and what we do with them. She was such a great player here. I think a lot of what she does will rub off on the other players and she is going to be a really good teacher for the players coming in."
"Ashley Toner was one of the hardest working players I've ever had the pleasure to coach. Going through all the physical problems she had last year with her back problems and people not knowing what she went through with a broken bone in her back and still playing in games, practicing, going through everything day-in and day-out showed a lot of how tough she is mentally and physically. That'll be nice for our kids to see."
