Claudia DeFaria enters her seventh season with Coach Reilly. She assists him with all phases of the RIC women’s basketball program including recruiting, scouting, practice execution, game coaching and alumni relations.

While on the Community College of Rhode Island staff, DeFaria helped lead the Lady Knights to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament Final Four twice and the Elite Eight four times, while capturing five consecutive Region XXI and Northeast District Championships.

DeFaria is a 1996 graduate of Rhode Island College and is one of the college’s all-time greatest women’s basketball players. In just two years at RIC, DeFaria scored 1,048 points, which ranks her ninth all-time in career scoring. She remains the only RIC player to ever score 1,000 points in just two seasons. She is also fifth all-time with 592 career rebounds. She was inducted into RIC’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 and named to the college’s 75^th Anniversary Women’s Basketball Team in 2005.  She is currently a member of the Rhode Island College Hall of Fame selection committee.

As a senior in 1994-95, DeFaria was named the Little East Conference’s Player of the Year, First Team All-LEC and to the All-LEC Tournament team. DeFaria led the LEC in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 19.2 ppg and 11.8 rpg, a double-double for the entire season. She was named a New England Women’s Basketball Association (NEWBA) Second Team All-Star and was named a Distinguished Student-Athlete by the Rhode Island Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (RIAIAW).

Prior to coming to RIC, DeFaria starred at the Community College of Rhode Island from 1990-92. At the time of her graduation, she was CCRI’s all-time leader in career scoring and assists and was inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.  She was also honored as the CCRI alum of the year in 2008.

DeFaria is a 1996 graduate of Rhode Island College, earning a bachelor’s degree in justice studies. She is a 1993 graduate of CCRI, earning an associate’s degree in business with a concentration in law enforcement.  She is currently a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).  She was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in Fall 2009. 

In addition to her coaching duties, DeFaria is a supervisor with The Key Program, Inc. She resides in Central Falls, Rhode Island.