Astou Ndiaye-Diatta

Astou Ndiaye-Diatta is a former Senegalese professional women’s basketball player and current assistant coach at Utah State University in the United States.

A 1997 cum laude graduate of Southern Nazerene with a bachelor’s degree in business, Ndiaye-Diatta was named a Kodak/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association NAIA All-American as a senior and was a two-time NAIA First Team All-American. She also earned the Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Year as a senior and was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year during her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

In 1999, Ndiaye-Diatta was selected in the fourth round (41st overall) of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Draft by the Detroit Shock. Ndiaye-Diatta played five seasons for the Shock, including winning the 2003 WNBA Championship. She went on to play for the Indiana Fever (2004), Houston Comets (2006) and Seattle Storm (2007). She also played professionally in Italy and France during her career.

Ndiaye-Diatta represented Senegal in international competition at the World Championships in Malaysia (1990), Germany (1998), China (2002) and Brazil (2006) and at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.