Brionna Dickerson-Zimmerman back to coach alma mater, Heathwood Hall

Former Heathwood and USC standout Brionna Dickerson Zimmerman (HHES ’05) has been named Heathwood’s next Head Girls’ Basketball Coach.

Brionna steps into a position previously held by John O’Cain (2009 – 2016) – who led the Highlanders to a 3A SCISA Championship in 2014 with a senior heavy team led by A’ja Wilson – and recently vacated by MS Dean of Students Rich Edwards (P ’21 & ’25), who served as the girls’ varsity basketball coach from 2016-2020.

Heathwood has been a family affair for Brionna, with her sisters Kristen ’09 and Victoria ’14 also playing for the Highlanders, where each of them scored over 1000 pts.  Brionna is Heathwood Hall’s all-time leading scorer and the third all-time scorer in the state of South Carolina, with just under 3400 career points. Additionally, Brionna’s father, Jerome, currently assists Heathwood’s girls varsity basketball team

Coach Zimmerman brings with her the knowledge of what it is to be a student-athlete at Heathwood, and her knowledge of what it takes to play at the collegiate level will be of great value to our student-athletes who are looking to play at the next level. In addition to her outstanding record as a Highlander, she was a standout player at the University of South Carolina under Coach Dawn Staley and has prior coaching experience here, at Richland Northeast, and in AAU. A graduate of the University of South Carolina Honors College, she also holds a Masters in International Business from the Darla Moore School of Business and has served as Heathwood’s Events Coordinator and Development Associate since 2018.

Coach Zimmerman is also excited about rejoining the Highlander Women’s Basketball program: “I’m thrilled to be back home coaching for a program that helped catapult me into my playing career as well as prepared me for life. I want to take the same values that I followed as a student athlete and make sure that each person on our team improves and knows that we will be all in as a family this season.”

We are excited about this next phase in Highlander Girls’ Basketball, and eager for Brionna’s work with our young athletes to begin.