Courtney Banghart's 10 on 10: Blake Dietrick '15 Makes Seattle Storm Roster

PRINCETON, N.J. - Recently finishing her 10th season, Princeton head coach Courtney Banghart sits with 208 career victories, 113 of which have come in the Ivy League. She is fourth all-time in the Ivy League in career and conference wins.

Banghart's 10 on 10: The Coaching Staff
Banghart's 10 on 10: The Class of 2013
Banghart's 10 on 10: The Alumni Weekend
Banghart's 10 on 10: Addie Micir '11
Banghart's 10 on 10: Overseas Trips
Banghart's 10 on 10: Bella Alarie's Freshman Season
Banghart's 10 on 10: Tani Brown '10 and Cheryl Stevens '10
Banghart's 10 on 10: Academic-Athletic Fellows

To celebrate her 10 years at Princeton, the Ivy's all-time leader in overall winning percentage and conference winning percentage, laid out her 10 favorite memories. In this article, Banghart's memories will continue with a look back on Blake Dietrick '15 making the Seattle Storm's Opening Night roster in 2016.

Dietrick's story begins before Princeton where she was multi-sport star at Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Mass.

In her time during high school, Dietrick was the team's all-time leader in points, three-time All-American and helped lead the squad to four division crowns.

That was for Lacrosse.

Basketball was another story.

Dietrick was the program's all-time leader in points, male or female, with 1,440, a three-time all-conference player, helped the team to an 84-9 record with three conference titles and the 2008 Massachusetts Division II State Championship.

The future Tiger saved her best for last as she finished her senior captain season, averaging 20.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.9 steals per game. She was the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year, the 2011 Player of the Year by the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association, an ESPNBoston first-team all-state selection and the Bay State Conference MVP.

During her freshman year at Princeton, Dietrick saw action in 23 games off the bench, averaging 4.0 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. Princeton rolled off its second perfect Ivy League season in three years and finished 24-5. It was also the first Ivy squad to ever make the Associated Press Top 25.

In her sophomore campaign, Dietrick cracked the starting lineup in six games and saw an uptick in playing time. She was fourth on the team in scoring (8.0), was second in assists (2.6) and finished with 3.4 rebounds per contest. The team began the year 7-5, but ripped off 11 consecutive victories, eight of which were by 20 points or more.

A trip to Harvard in March ended a 33-game Ivy streak, but the Tigers quickly regrouped, finishing off the season with four victories and earning the program's fourth straight Ivy crown.

Her junior campaign was a breakout season as Dietrick finished as first-team All-Ivy player. She was fifth in the conference in points per game (14.3), tied for fourth in assists (3.4) and third in three-point percentage (40.0). Princeton won more than 20 games for the fifth straight season and won its first game ever in the Women's National Invitational Tournament.

How would Dietrick finish her career at Princeton? In a word…

Perfectly.

The Tigers had an unblemished 30-0 regular season, won its fifth Ivy League title in six years, and won the program's first ever NCAA Tournament game. The guard averaged career-highs in points (15.1), assists (4.9), and rebounds (4.5) per game en route to Associated Press and WBCA Honorable Mention All-America honors. A seven-time Ivy Player of the Week, she was the conference's unanimous choice for Player of the Year. Setting a single-season program record for assists (157), her 483 points in 2014-15 was tied for the third highest total in school history.

A two-time first-team All-Ivy selection, Dietrick finished ranked fourth on the Princeton charts in three-pointers made (210) and three-point shooting percentage (.395). Sitting fourth in assists (346) and 12th in scoring (1,233), she poured in a team-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting in her final collegiate contest, a NCAA second-round loss to eventual Final Four participant Maryland.

After her collegiate career concluded, the All-American was invited to the Washington Mystics' training camp, but did not make the roster. Following a brief stint with the Los Angeles Sparks in the preseason, Dietrick spent the 2015-16 season with Cestistica Orvieto in Italy where she averaged 15.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 steals per contest.

Prior to the 2016-17 season, the former Tiger signed with the Seattle Storm for training camp where she battled her way on to the Opening Day roster. With that, Dietrick made history.

The first Princeton women's basketball player ever to make a WNBA opening night roster.

That has a nice ring to it.

"It was a complete honor to play in the WNBA among the players I admired throughout my basketball career," said Dietrick. "I never really thought playing professionally would be a possibility for me coming into college, but the coaching staff at Princeton and especially coach Banghart helped me improve my game by leaps and bounds and helped put me in a position to be successful at the highest possible level. Princeton has given me so much, it is always an honor to represent the orange and black in everything I do."

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results