If anyone on the Notre Dame High girls’ basketball team deserved to play in the Irish’s run to the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament championship, it was Izzy Diaz.
That’s not to say they all didn’t deserve it, but Diaz was a special case. As a key member of ND’s volleyball team, she went up to block a ball and came down on a teammate’s foot in practice right before states began. She sprained her right ankle and was idle for five weeks, meaning she had to sit out as her teammates rolled to the NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public A title.
“It was literally the practice before the first day of states and it was at the end of practice,” Diaz said. “It kind of like, sucked, really bad. It wasn’t even a little sprain, it was a high sprain. I was on crutches for a week. They put me in a boot for a few weeks.”
The Mercerville product also missed all of the basketball preseason and was not cleared to play until the season’s second game against Steinert. She took a while to return to form, but when she did, the Irish took off.
“I threw her to the wolves in her first game back,” said CVC co-Coach of the Year Beth Fitzpatrick. “She started and didn’t come out. She wasn’t physically great. She didn’t have the build-up.
“As the season went on and she got healthy, you could see the impact. When we started to make our run and started to gel, it totally coincided with her becoming healthy. So she was a huge game changer. Winning the CVC Tournament was extra special for her after missing their volleyball run.”
Diaz did a little bit of everything during the four CVCT games, averaging 8.5 points and 7.5 rebounds while collecting eight assists, seven blocked shots and four steals. In the title game against Ewing she had eight points, four rebounds, two assists and most importantly, five blocked shots that forced Ewing to alter its shots or think twice about driving to the hoop.
“Being in the basketball finals after not being in the (South Jersey) final, it felt like I was really able to contribute rather than just watch and cheer them on,” Diaz said. “That was our goal for sure. We knew we had the chance, it was our last chance as seniors, obviously, and it meant a lot to the whole team.”
Diaz’s season stats were modest since the first half of the campaign was actually her preseason. She averaged five points and five rebounds per game, was third in assists with 52 and far and away the team leader in blocks with 41. She also had 33 steals.
Once she rounded into form, Diaz averaged 6.8 points and 5.6 rebounds to go along with 22 assists and 20 blocked shots in the Irish’s final 12 games.
“The ankle bothered me a lot toward the beginning,” she said. “As the season went along it got better but even now there’s some leftover swelling. They said that would be normal because I didn’t give it full time to let it heal.”
Sitting out a while longer to let it get better never entered her mind.
“I just wanted to play,” Diaz said. “It was my last chance since I’m a senior. Since it’s a sprain instead of a broken bone you can still play through it. You’re not gonna make it any worse by playing on it. I broke my left foot during AAU in my sophomore year and I didn’t let that heal all the way and I was able to play on it, so I’m kind of used to playing on hurt ankles.”
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Diaz has been playing on both healthy and bum ankles for a long time. She began playing basketball in the Hamilton PAL in fourth grade and soon moved on to AAU to play with the New Jersey Rise.
“I still have my shirts from Hamilton PAL, and they still fit somehow,” Diaz said proudly.
After graduating from Crockett Middle School, she entered Notre Dame not knowing many people, so she decided to try volleyball.
“I knew I wanted to do a fall sport and it’s a good way to meet new people,” she said. “Going from public school to private school I didn’t really have any friends that were going to Notre Dame. So I felt the best way to meet friends was doing something I like and that’s playing sports. I liked volleyball at the beach for fun. And everyone is like ‘Oh you’re tall you’ll be good at volleyball.’”
The 6-1 leaper became a middle blocker for the Irish and made varsity as a sophomore. Her progress was quicker in basketball as she was on varsity as a freshman. Diaz quickly became a defensive force, with 21 blocks as a sophomore and 46 last season.
“Blocking in volleyball is like blocking in basketball so it helps me,” she said. “That was easy to adjust to, I definitely picked it up pretty quickly. It’s funny because I’m the third tallest player on our (volleyball) team but I probably jump better.”
Asked to explain the secret to blocking shots, Diaz said, “I think it’s more of your reaction time, just being able to react fast. I’ve always been able to block shots in basketball but volleyball helps me improve in that. Blocking is my favorite thing in sports all-around. Getting points is fun too, but blocking is just more fun.”
Fitzpatrick loves that Diaz loves to block shots.
“Defensively, we played tough pressure defense,” the first-year Irish coach said. “Teams might get past our guards but guess what, there’s Izzy. She’s an exceptional shot blocker. She was literally able to change the complexion of games because of that.
“I was so looking forward to having Izzy this season. At tryouts it was the first time I was getting to know her as a basketball player besides checking her stats out, and she could play.”
She will continue to play next year, as Diaz heads for Salisbury State.
“I was recruited by a lot of schools,” she said. “All the D3 schools around here.”
Her decision to attend the Maryland school was more or less a process of elimination. “You look at things you don’t like in schools,” she said. “Say a school is too small or in an area I didn’t like, it was easy to check it off. When I visited Salisbury I just knew it would fit me.”
The Seagulls are looking for Diaz to play the four spot, which Fitzpatrick thinks will be a perfect fit.
“I feel like she’s gonna go to college and she’s going to flourish,” the coach said. “She’s not really a back-to-the-basket player like she was with us. She’s more of a stretch four kind of thing.
“Offensively she has all the tools. She can get the ball and take it coast to coast, which she did for us at times. She hits threes, she’s a really good foul shooter. I really felt her injury is why she wasn’t able to show people all her talents all season long. Once she got healthy you got to see all she had in there. She needs to be out on the floor.”
Actually, she always needs to do something. Diaz will return to the Irish track & field team this spring and do running events to keep in shape. After that, she heads for the next level of hoops.
“I didn’t really think about it that much until high school; it wasn’t like since I was two that I wanted to play college basketball,” she said. “I like the idea of D3 because you can still play the sport you like to play and have your college experience. D1 it’s like a job. I thought that’s what it was like visiting D1 schools.”
That’s an interesting take from someone who does her job so well on the court. And Fitzpatrick feels she will keep doing it at Salisbury.
“I can’t wait,” the coach said, “to see what she does in college.”
