GAFFNEY, S.C. - Anderson College head women's coach Kevin Pederson was named 2004-05 Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference Coach of the Year Thursday night at the league's annual basketball banquet at Limestone College. Pederson, a native of Reston, Va., led a team with three sophomores in the starting lineup to a regular-season record of 28-2 overall and 19-1 in the CVAC. Under Pederson's direction, the Lady Trojans earned their first national ranking ever this season. Anderson started the season unranked, entered the poll at No. 19 in November, and then made a steady rise into the top five. In the this week's polls, Anderson is ranked No. 5 in the USA TODAY/ESPN/WBCA Division II Top 25 and No. 2 in the NCAA East Region poll. In his fourth season at Anderson, Pederson has led to the Lady Trojans to an overall record of 84-30 and a CVAC record of 59-20. He led Anderson to its first CVAC Tournament title and NCAA bid in 2003-04 and its first CVAC regular-season title in 2004-05. Pederson's fast-paced style has made the Lady Trojans one of the highest scoring teams in the country. In 2003-04, Anderson led the nation in scoring at 85.0 points per game. This season, the Lady Trojans are third in the nation in scoring at just under 90 points a game. Anderson has scored 100 or more points in a game seven times this season and 11 times in the past two seasons. Anderson has scored 90 or more points 18 times this season. Pederson has coached two CVAC Freshmen of the Year (Leann Segers and LaShonda Chiles) and one CVAC Player of the Year (Chiles). Pederson has made the Abney Center a difficult place for opponents to visit. In his four seasons, Anderson is 48-5 at home. Pederson came to Anderson from Clemson University where he was a manager for former Clemson coaches Rick Barnes and Larry Shyatt. He started at Anderson as a volunteer assistant with the men's program. He was named head coach of the Anderson women's program in December 2001.