Women's Basketball

Coach Paulette Stein enters her fifth season at the helm of Lady Wildcat basketball program with an impressive 88-37 record. Last season Stein guided Lady Wildcats to a Mon-Dak Conference Title and a Region XIII Championship. For her efforts, Stein was named Mon-Dak Coach-of-the-Year and Region XIII Coach-of-the-Year. Last year’s 13-1 Mon-Dak Conference record is among the best for NDSCS and with a 23-9 overall record Stein has amassed 434 wins in her coaching career. Since coming to NDSCS in the fall of 2003 Stein has achieved the following: produced six NJCAA All-Americans; had three players sign with NCAA Division I universities and seven players with NCAA Division II, III or NAIA schools; had four All-Region XIII players, two conference MVP’s, 10 All-Conference players, two Distinguished Academic All-Americans and 20 All-Academic Conference Players. In Stein’s first season she led the Lady Wildcat’s to it’s first-ever Mon-Dak Conference Tournament title.

Known as a program builder, Stein came to NDSCS after being the head-coach at five schools. At Butler University, Indianapolis, Ind., Stein was named Midwestern Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year in both 1990 and 1993, and helped Butler earn its first Women’s National Invitational Tournament bid. Stein rebuilt the programs Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mich., and Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, Wis., by leading both schools to their first ever conference tournaments and recruiting the schools first-ever Freshman-of- the-Year players. Stein laid a solid foundation at Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Mich., by recruiting the school’s first conference player of the year. At Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., she led the team to a NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Championship. Before entering the college ranks, Stein coached Clymer High School (N.Y.) to a 55-14 record.

Stein’s players have had success not only on the court, but also in the classroom. In 2006-07 seven players attained the President’s Honor Roll at NDSCS and two players have become NJCAA Distinguished Academic All-Americans. Her teams at Augustana, Northern Michigan and Butler achieved 100-percent graduation rates. Her 2002 team had the highest grade-point average among teams at Wisconsin-Parkside, and in 1999-2000 her UWP team had the 18th-highest GPA among NCAA Division II women’s basketball teams.

Stein graduated from Whitehall High School in Whitehall, Pa. before going to Philadelphia Community College. She then earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.

Jennifer DesJean, an Indianapolis, Indiana native, enters her first season as an assistant women’s basketball coach under NDSCS head coach Paulette Stein. DesJean holds a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from Marian University, Indianapolis, Indiana. Prior to attending Marian, DesJean attended and played at Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY. In May of 2009 DesJean received her master’s degree from Ball State University in Sports Administration.

As a standout player for Marian, DesJean still holds the record for the highest single season and career field goal percentage along with 400 rebounds in two years.

Graduating from Perry Meridian High School, Indianapolis, IN, DesJean, was a 1000 point scorer in three years. During her sophomore and junior years she was selected to the All-County Team. At the end of her junior year, she was named to the Junior All-Star team and was also named All-Conference as a junior and senior. DesJean was named to the prestigious Indiana All-Star Team. She was also named to the City/County All-Star Team and to the Indiana North/South All-Star Team. She was a first team selection by the prominent Hoosier Basketball Magazine as a pre-season All-State Team pick. In volleyball DesJean was named to the Volleyball All-State team as a senior, as voted by the coaches.

DesJean began her coaching career at George Washington Community High School in Indianapolis. After one season she entered the collegiate coaching at her alma mater, Marian College.