Staff Writer
County native and former Presque Isle high school basketball player Natasha Deschene was named to the New England Women’s Basketball Association All-Senior Team on March 12 and took part in the game on March 28.
This senior civil engineering major has been on the women’s basketball team at Worchester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. since her freshman year.
Deschene starts as point guard for the Engineers and is an all-around solid player, shining equally on offense and defense. But before she made her debut on a college court, she spent time as a Wildcat under the leadership of coach Jeff Hudson.
“Tash is one my favorite kids to have coached,” said Hudson, who saw evidence of her love for the game years before she was a high school freshman. “I knew she was going to be a player. She would eat, sleep and drink basketball – she was like a gym rat. She could talk the game, think the game and play the game,” he explained.
Her dedication and drive, coupled by a willingness to lead and team-minded perspective aided the Presque Isle student in her four pre-collegiate years. Starting as point guard even in high school, Deschene was all over the court. “The way she played the game,” began Hudson, “well, you can’t get a true impression of how important she was by just looking at the stats. She’d dribble the ball down as point guard but then hustle back to guard the center on defense. She was a do everything type of player.”
Deschene didn’t hesitate to step into a play and do what needed to be done. And she equally embraced her role as a leader, both on and off the high school courts. “All the kids looked up to her,” remembered Hudson. “They knew she was a kid that thought the team was much more important than what she did. She was an extension of me on the court.”
“Tash’s goal was to go into engineering since high school and she knew she wanted to go to a smaller school and play basketball,” said Hudson. And though Deschene took a motivated attitude and positive experiences with her to Massachusetts, college level basketball wasn’t an easy adjustment.
In a recent interview by WPI alumnus Ray Cotrufo, Deschene explained her biggest challenge.
“College is such a big adjustment from high school basketball, so I think it’s hard for freshmen coming in – you have a new college coach teaching you all these different things, and it’s just a matter of getting to the point where you can trust everything that they’re saying,” she said.
Still, despite the transition, Deschene made a significant initial impression on WPI’s women’s basketball coach Cherise Galasso.
“I can remember clearly a scrawnier version of Tash arriving at WPI as a freshman, and nothing phased her. She just took each day as it came, along with plenty of naps, and did her thing,” said Galasso, who has had the privilege, like Hudson, of watching Deschene grow in talent and personality over the past four years.
“She has really developed into the quintessential point guard and a coach’s dream. She is so smart and such a clever player. She really came into her own last season but I think has reached her potential this year, including increasing her scoring output,” Galasso explained.
Earlier this 2008-2009 basketball season, Deschene netted a game-high 19 points in WPI’s away game against Thomas College in Waterville. What made the occasion doubly significant for Deschene was having her family in the stands to observe the momentous event.
But beyond her personal accomplishments, Deschene has played a pivotal role in this season’s journey for the Engineers.
Having both coached the point guard, Hudson and Galasso share similar experiences and opinions of Deschene.
“What’s neat about Tash is she does so many things well and people don’t realize how good she is. Running the team, assists, etc, that is all obvious, but not many people realize she is our second leading offensive rebounder-something you don’t see in point guards. She is our heart and soul and I have so much confidence in Tash. She has become another coach on the floor and we have really developed a strong relationship,” Galasso said, reiterating Hudson’s sentiments.
Hudson was also right when he assumed Deschene’s present coach feels the same way as he does about Deschene’s spirit and progression.
“I think all coaches take pride in watching their student-athletes develop over the course of their college careers. And it has been such a pleasure for me to watch Tash develop as a basketball player but more importantly as a person,” said the WPI coach.
For Deschene, academics has carried just as much weight as athletics and her passion for learning is obvious.
“Off the floor,” noted Galasso, “she carries a 3.6 GPA and recently was up for the President’s Award for her work on her IQP project. Her work with the Big Brother/Big Sister program is also something I know she will look back on with pride.”
It was no surprise, then, when Deschene was selected to the NEWMAC women’s basketball All-Academic team earlier this year. Deschene met the criteria for her third consecutive year.
It seems that no matter what Deschene does, she does it with heart. And she’ll be ending her final year at WPI with as much vigor, if not more, as she did starting as a freshman. “Well, being my last year, you just go out every game and you just want to leave everything out there … you don’t want to have any regrets.” But will Deschene’s basketball career continue beyond college?
“As far as after this year, I just accepted a job at National Grid, so I’ll be working in Waltham, Mass., but I think that I’d eventually like to coach a little bit of basketball, maybe at the high school level where I can do it part-time as opposed to doing it as a career.”
And her former high school coach couldn’t encourage that more.
“I think with her personality she would be able to handle kids, she doesn’t get too excited or too down, and she has a knowledge for the game. Some players have a better feel for the game of basketball, and Tash is definitely one of those people.”
Contributed photo/Richard Orr Sports
WORCHESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE senior point guard Natasha Deschene dribbles the ball past an opponent during a 2008-2009 regular season game. Before playing for the Engineers, the Presque Isle native was coached by Lady Wildcats coach Jeff Hudson.
