WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Two Boilermaker alumnae, whose time in Mackey Arena was split by over a decade, will team up to represent their nation in the 2023 AfroBasket Women. Aya Traore and Fatou Diagne will play for their native Senegal over July 28 to Aug. 5 in the continent's biennial competition in Kigali, Rwanda.
Aya Traore played for Purdue for three seasons from 2004-06. The Dakar, Senegal, native averaged 9.4 points, with a 42.9% clip from the field. As a senior during the 2005-06 campaign, Traore was tabbed Second Team All-Big Ten following a campaign that featured 13.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Traore returns to the Senegal lineup following a stellar season for Sant Josep in Spain's Liga Femina 2, where she was named the league's most valuable player with a 13-point, 7.7-rebound campaign. Traore has two AfroBasket gold medals after helping Senegal claim the continental crown in 2009 and 2015. She has also represented Senegal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, as well as two FIBA World Championships in 2006 and 2010.
Diagne suited up for the Boilermakers from 2019-21. She appeared in 85 games with 27 starts to average 4.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Her most productive season came in 2021 when she tallied 8.6 points and 6.4 rebounds with a team-best 54.4% field goal clip to earn Big Ten honorable mention laurels.
Following her graduate with a degree in African American Studies, and a graduate season spent at Houston, Diagne made her professional debut for Estepona in Spain in 2022-23 averaging 4.1 points over 11.4 minutes per game. She made her debut for Senegal in the 2019 edition of the event, taking home the silver medal..
Senegal will play for its 12th AfroBasket title starting in Group C against Mali and Uganda. Traore and Diagne will open their tournament at noon (ET) against Uganda.