CINCINNATI -- Jamelle Elliott was fired Wednesday as the women's basketball coach at Cincinnati after nine years of working to revive the program, which was finally back in winning form.

The Bearcats went 19-13 last season -- their best in 15 years -- and lost to Michigan State in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. They were 113-162 in Elliott's nine seasons, including an appearance in the WNIT in 2012.

Cincinnati is coming off its first consecutive winning seasons since 2005 through 2007.

The Bearcats played home games at a high school last season while their on-campus arena was renovated. The men's team played at Northern Kentucky University.

Elliott came to Cincinnati after being a star player at Connecticut and an assistant coach for 12 years.