She was pretty quiet off the court. But on the court, her
actions spoke volumes. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that
during her years as a player, WPI’s success in women’s
basketball reached its zenith.
One player does not a team make. There were several reasons why the
1995 WPI women’s basketball team finished 18-10, played in
the NEW-8 Championship finals, and competed in the ECAC post-season
tourney. And why the 1996 team finished 23-6 (the best
single-season record in WPI history), won the NEW-8 Championship,
and reached the second round of the NCAA postseason tourney.
Odds are, however, that none of that would have happened were it
not for the marvelous exploits of one Danielle Batey. Danielle was
integral to the success of those teams. Her name can still be found
in many places in the WPI record books. Among career leaders, she
is still 4th in games played (102). She is 9th in points scored
(1,151). She is tied for 6th in 3-point field goals made (52), and
7th in 3-point field goals attempted (164). She is 3rd in 3-point
shooting accuracy (.317), 2nd in free throws made (295), and 3rd in
free throws attempted (438). In career steals, she is 7th
(184).
Among WPI’s all-time single-season leaders, Danielle’s
numbers shine even brighter. The following are from that fabulous
1995-96 season: she’s tied for first place in WPI history in
games played (29); she’s first in points scored (490);
she’s first in free throws made (131), and she’s first
in free throws attempted (189).
As a freshman, she averaged 3.7 points and 2.1 rebounds. But her
numbers really began to improve after that. As a sophomore, she
averaged 9.8 points and 5.5 rebounds. As a junior, her figures
reached new heights as she averaged a team-high 16.9 points and 7.0
rebounds. And as a senior, when she was not asked to score as much,
she averaged 12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds. In her career, she
averaged 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds—highly respectable
numbers!
Today, Danielle is an engineer manager for Digimarc, the U.S.
leader in identification systems. She has traveled around the
world—to such countries as New Zealand, Wales, England,
Germany, and Mexico. Through her work, she has already visited most
of the 50 states.
She resides in Amherst, New Hampshire, and is currently training to
be a disaster volunteer for the American Red Cross so that she may
help in the Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf
Coast.
For all her outstanding achievements, it is with great pride that
WPI inducts Danielle Batey into its Athletic Hall of Fame.
