Hall of Fame
Dana grew up in Sun Prairie, WI, where she played four years of high school basketball. Dana earned two varsity letters and received two all-conference honors. As a senior captain for the Cardinals, she averaged 15 points, four assists, and five rebounds per game.
After a successful high school career, Dana chose Madison College to continue her basketball career. As a freshman, Dana started in 30 games for the WolfPack. She scored 582 points for a team leading 17.6 points per game. Dana was tops on her team in free-throw shooting and second in three point shooting percentage. Dana helped propel her team to the 2008 national tournament in Utica, NY, and the WolfPack finished fourth in the nation. Dana earned both athletic and academic all-conference honors, as well as, all-state honors, in that first season.
With a year under her belt, Dana pushed herself to new heights in her second season. Dana was named team captain for the 2008-09 season, and she led her team from the very beginning. Dana started all 33 games for the WolfPack and did it all. She led her team in scoring with 14 points per game, was second in assists, tops in three-pointers made and three-point shooting percentage, second in steals, and led the team with an impressive 85.3 percent from the free throw line. Her leadership, hustle, and outstanding play once again propelled her team to a national tournament berth. The WolfPack made it all the way to the national championship game before falling to tournament host, Rochester, to finish national runners-up. Dana earned many honors including all-conference, all-state, all-region, national all-tournament team, and was named a first team All-American.
“Dana is one of the best athletes and the best shooter I’ve had the privilege to coach,” commented former head women’s basketball coach, Jessica Pelzel. “She was the ultimate team player and didn’t care about her own accolades. When Dana starts anything, she goes in 100% and that was certainly the case with her dedication to Madison College.”
Dana’s achievements on the basketball floor cemented her name into the record books. She is one of only three players in Madison College women’s basketball history to score over 1000 points for her career as well as being ninth all-time in career steals, sixth and twenty-second all-time in season points, eleventh in season three-point shooting percentage, and eighth and first all-time in season free throw percentage.
Dana’s work ethic and outstanding play did not go unnoticed by college coaches. In the spring of 2009, Dana signed a scholarship with NCAA Division I, University of North Carolina Asheville, out of the Big South Conference. Dana played two seasons for the Bulldogs and earned a bachelor’s degree in Health and Wellness.
After college, she stayed with basketball as she served one-year as a student assistant coach at UNC-Asheville before coming back to Madison College to be an assistant coach for four seasons. Dana works at Costco and is in the process of becoming a United States Marine Corps Officer. Dana received a Top Performer award, scoring the highest on her overall Physical Fitness Test at the 2019 Marine Corps District Officer Candidate School Preparation weekend.
