Penn State Harrisburg

Aireo Payne is set to begin her third season as an assistant coach for the Penn State Harrisburg women's basketball program in 2025-26.


Most recently, she helped guided Penn State Harrisburg to the quarterfinal round of the United East Championship Tournament in 2024-25. The Lions were especially strong at the charity stripe, securing an NCAA Statistical Championship for free throw percentage (78.9). Individually, grad transfer Jordan Carpenter set single-season program records for points, field goals and free throws made. For her efforts she was tabbed second-team all-region by D3hoops.com after being named the United East Player of the Year. She was joined by Mikayla Coleman (second team) and Ali Lister (third team) as all-conference picks. 


During her first season with the program in 2023-24, Payne helped lead the Lions to their first NCAA Tournament appearance after the program captured its first United East Championship in program history. After going 11-1 in conference play and securing the league's regular season title, Penn State Harrisburg defeated St. Elizabeth in the conference championship game to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Jayla Galbreath became the fourth player in program history to score 1,000 career points and Giahny Correa set the program record for points in a single season. For their efforts, Correa was named to the United East All-Conference First Team, while Galbreath earned all-conference second-team recognition.