Decker receives honor
East Stroudsburg University women’s basketball head coach Diane Decker was among a group of 10 athletic standouts who were inducted into the Jerry Wolman-Northern Anthracite Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame Sunday. The ceremony took place at Shenandoah Valley High School.
Decker, who enters her third season in charge of the Warriors this winter, is a 1985 graduate of Marian Catholic High School. She left as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,377 points, and she also pulled down 1,129 rebounds during her four years with the Fillies.
Those four seasons included two District 11 Class A girls’ basketball championships, three trips to the Eastern finals and a 1984 PIAA Class A state title. Decker was a two-time All-State honoree, a Converse High School All-American and a USA Today All-America honorable mention selection.
After leaving Marian Catholic, Decker was a four-year letterwinner at Villanova, where she earned second team All-Big East accolades as a senior. The Wildcats advanced to the NCAA Tournament all four seasons, including a berth in the Sweet 16 during Decker’s sophomore year.
In her current stint with the Warriors, Decker has led the program to back-to-back strong seasons. She was named PSAC East Coach of the Year in 2015-16 after ESU advanced to the PSAC Quarterfinals and closed the year with wins in 14 of its final 20 games. The Warriors built on that success last season, finishing 19-9 and making it to the PSAC Final Four for the first time since Decker served as an assistant coach on the 2006-07 team.
Decker previously coached at ESU for three seasons (assistant coach 2005-06 and 2006-07, interim head coach 2007-08) before spending seven seasons as an assistant coach at Bloomsburg - helping the Huskies to five PSAC East regular season titles, one PSAC Tournament title and four NCAA Division II Tournament appearances.
The Warriors kick off the 2017-18 regular season at New Haven on Friday, Nov. 10. Their home opener is set for Wednesday, Nov. 22 against Chestnut Hill.
