Raven Dean has been a part of the women’s basketball program for all four years of her college experience. Dean is from Charlotte, North Carolina, where she started her basketball career.
“I had an older cousin that played basketball and watching them play made me want to play,” said Dean.
Dean played high school basketball at Ardrey Kell High School, and while there was named conference defensive player of the year as a freshman.
“I came into college injured, so it was hard from the beginning,” said Dean. “It’s hard for any freshman, but as a senior you kind of know what’s expected. It’s a lot easier with preparation.”
Since coming to ETSU, Dean has started every season. Her freshman year injuries played a major role in her ability to play healthy throughout the season. Despite her struggles offensively, Dean stayed a reliable defender for the Bucs, helping get stops when the team needed.
Her reliable defense helped her to be named on the SoCon All-Freshman team.
In her sophomore season, Dean offensively saw a lot of improvement particularly in her field goal percentage and scoring average. Dean finished the season averaging a little under 10 points per game (9.2 points per game) which was the third best on the team. Continuing to be a reliable defender and improving offensively, she earned her third team All-SoCon.
“A player I model my game after is LeBron James,” said Dean. “Obviously I’m not as athletic, but I admire his versatility.”
Despite her struggles offensively in her junior season, Dean did help the Bucs win 20 games last season, the most since she joined the team. Her versatility helped her to be second on the team in rebounds with five per game.
Coming into her senior season Dean had many goals she wanted to accomplish.
“I wanted to get better from my past three years, and as a team we wanted to win the conference,” said Dean. “This season I wanted to make sure I led by example on and off the floor, upholding the standard my coach has for the team.”
This season the Bucs have not started off the way they hoped, but Dean is confident the team is putting things together. Averaging 9.4 points per game, Dean is the second highest on the team and also second on the team in assists.
