Jessica Cavaco is entering her third season on the women's basketball coaching staff at Saint Peter's University in 2020-21, serving as an assistant coach.
Cavaco was part of a coaching staff that helped produce the most wins by the program in nearly a decade (9) this past season on the way to a ninth-place finish in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The Peacocks would save some of their best performances for the final month of the year, including a season-defining victory against a Rider squad that was among the most dominant not only in the conference, but in all of mid-major basketball, entering their matchup riding a 14-game winning streak and as the MAAC's last unbeaten team. Saint Peter's would post a wire-to-wire win to jumpstart a furious finish to the season that would see them post three more impressive victories, including an overtime thriller against another one of the league's top teams in Fairfield and an unbelievable comeback in the regular season finale against Iona.
Cavaco and the coaching staff would help the Peacocks finish 2019-20 ranked second in the league in scoring offense (68.8), fourth in shooting percentage (39.0), third in 3-point shooting (31.5) and first in free throw conversion (79.0); the Peacocks also led the MAAC in turnover margin (3.03) and forced opponents to commit more turnovers than any other MAAC team. Individually, Taiah Thornton '21 and Kendrea Williams '21 -- who were playing their first seasons at Saint Peter's after transferring -- were among the top-12 in the conference in scoring and overall shooting. Thornton would earn all-league third team honors and ranked third in steals per game (2.3), while Williams finished as the league's top 3-point shooter (41.3) and ranked second in 3-pointers per game (2.5). In the classroom, eight Peacocks earned MAAC All-Academic honors while the program posted a score of 991 for the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate (APR).
Cavaco spent the previous eight seasons alongside head coach Marc Mitchell at FDU-Florham, serving as an assistant coach. She helped coach the Devils to six consecutive conference championships, six straight NCAA tournament appearances, and helped guide the 2013-14 squad to the program's first NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship and a perfect 33-0 record.
In the spring of 2017, Cavaco was honored by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), making the Thirty Under 30 list. The honor recognized her as one of the nation's top 30 coaches under the age of the 30.
Cavaco graduated with an undergraduate degree in criminal justice and a minor in psychology from Kean University and earned her MA in sports administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She played girls' basketball for Mitchell at Elizabeth High School and currently resides in Newark, New Jersey.
