Tampa, Fla. – May 10, 2024 – South Florida women’s basketball head coach Jose Fernandez announced the addition of transfer Fatou Diakite from Charlotte. Diakite will join Raina Tomasicka, Jeniffer Silva, Mama Dembele, Ines Piper, Amy Thompson, and Yana Karamfilova for the approaching season.
Diakite comes to Tampa Bay from the Queen City, where she spent her freshman year at Charlotte. During the 2023-24 season, the forward saw action in 28 games, put up five or more points five times, grabbed five or more rebounds eight times, and had a pair of three block games for the 49ers. She matched a career-best three steals twice against Tennessee St. (Nov. 10) and at North Texas (Feb. 21), swatted a career-high three blocks against North Texas (Dec. 30), collected a career-best nine rebounds against George Washington (Nov. 25), and had career-best eight points at NC State (Nov. 7).
The Abidjan, Ivory Coast native also brings international playing experience, as Diakite Represented the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Select U23 Team at the 2023 GOLBL JAM in Toronto, Canada. She averaged 6.0 points per game and 4.0 rebounds per contest across four games in the event.
Coach Fernandez on Diakite: “Fatou (Diakite) only started playing basketball at the age of 16, and her best basketball is still ahead of her. We are excited to have the opportunity to coach Fatou and have her talent in our program for the next three years.”
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South Florida women’s basketball has made 18 postseason tournament appearances and had nine NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez’s 24 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided the Bulls to 11 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2008-09 WNIT championship, has won over 450 career games, and is the all-time wins leader in the American Athletic Conference.
