Dominican’s Diaz dazzling nation with scoring prowess
A teammate calls her “LBJ” — initials for “LeBron James Jr.” It’s not an outlandish nickname, given that Natalie Diaz is sort of like King James on the NCAA Division II level of women’s basketball.
For most of the season, she has led the nation in all NCAA divisions in scoring, although now she’s third in Division II at 26 points per game. That’s the best average of any women’s college player in the Bay Area.
At Dominican University in San Rafael, the prolific senior is listed as a 6-foot guard. Actually, she’s mainly a post player, and head coach Tim LaKose says she “might be 5-11 depending on what shoes she’s wearing.”
Diaz has led the Penguins — named for the Dominican nuns who used to run the school — to a 19-3 record, including a 16-2 mark in the Pacific West Conference. They’re in second place behind Azusa Pacific (19-4,16-1) going into Saturday’s home game against Fresno Pacific.
The conference tournament is March 7-9 at Dominican’s Conlan Center, and Diaz and her teammates would love to give the school its first title in any sport since it moved from the NAIA to the NCAA Division II nine years ago. The conference should get at least two berths in the NCAA Division II tournament.
Diaz, already the school’s all-time leading scorer, had 41 and 37 points in back-to-back games early in the season. She also averages 8.9 rebounds, fourth in the league.
“She’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of player, a coach’s dream, really, for how hard she works,” said LaKose, a former San Jose State women’s head coach. “Her attitude is contagious. She expects that of others.”
She was a standout at Soquel High in Santa Cruz County, but she got on Dominican’s radar while playing for the Palo Alto Midnight AAU team. The first time LaKose saw her in action, he was struck by what he calls her “wow factor.” He quickly surveyed the onlookers during a tournament at Foothill College to see if any other college coaches were on hand.
Diaz had never heard of Dominican, but she and her father decided to pay an unofficial visit on their way back from a trip to Sonoma State. She later paid an official visit and fell in love with the school and the basketball program. For one thing, she liked the 10:1 faculty-student ratio and the undergraduate enrollment of just 1,355. Counting grad students, it’s 1,783.
Some Division I schools came after her, but they couldn’t promise her what she wanted most: minutes and plenty of them.
Last season, Dominican was poised for big things until its other standout, Sandra Ikeora, wrecked an ankle and missed most of the season. “When Sandy got hurt, Nat really needed by necessity to step up and lead the team,” LaKose said. “She realized how dominant she could be.”
The Penguins lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament, and Diaz considered it a missed opportunity. At the start of this season, LaKose asked each player to pick a word to describe her attitude. Diaz chose “killer.”
He said, “She had that kind of mentality. She saw you’ve got to have that to get to the next spot. If you don’t, it’s probably not going to happen.”
Diaz gets most of her points in the paint, driving with either hand. She hits 48 percent of her shots overall, but when she steps behind the 3-point arc, her accuracy climbs to 57 percent in limited tries (20-for-35). The team needs her more down low, and teammate Alanna Scott ranks 31st in the nation from distance at 41 percent (62-for-153).
“When teams double- or triple-team me, I’m always looking out for the shooters,” Diaz said. “Anybody on the team can knock it down.”
She admires Elena Delle Donne of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics for her allaround skills and NBA great Tim Duncan for his coolness and extraordinary fundamentals.
“There’s something special about classic basketball,” Diaz said. “I really loved the way Tim Duncan played.”