Cetera DeGraffenreid enters her seventh season at UNCG in the 2024-25 season. DeGraffenreid finished her fourth season as assistant coach for UNCG women's basketball in 2021-22 and was promoted to Associate Head Coach at the end of May 2022.
DeGraffenreid came to UNCG after coaching at Gardner-Webb for three seasons and played professionally in Israel for two seasons after being a student-athlete at North Carolina.
The Spartans clinched their first regular season conference title since 2002 during the 2019-20 campaign, going asfar as the SoCon tournament finals during their postseason run. UNCG went 21-8 on the year with a 10-4 conference record, the most overall wins the team has had since that title run in 2002. UNCG's 13 home wins were just a single victory shy of tying a program record, as the Spartans led the conference in field goal percentage (42.9), field goal percentage defense (36.8), free throw percentage (77.1), scoring defense (55.3), scoring margin (+8.7) and three-point field goal percentage defense (28.3). Nadine Soliman and Te'ja Twitty both earned SoCon All-Conference honors under Patterson in 2020, with the former receiving First Team honors and the team's first-ever Player of the Year recognition. The Spartans' scoring defense ranked 16th in all of Division I women's basketball during that campaign.
Soliman became the program leading scorer against Samford, retiring with a UNCG all-time best 2,084 points, 177 more than any other player in history. She also set a program record in games played (128) under the current staff, in addition to career field goals made (751) and three-point field goals made (222). Her 709 rebounds rank fourth in Division I program history.
The Spartans made a run toward a unifying title in Asheville during the 2019-20 season, reaching the Southern Conference Tournament final against No. 1 Samford. The Spartans defeated both No. 6 ETSU and No. 7 Mercer in the quarterfinals and semifinal respectively, coming up four points shy of their first trip to the NCAA Championship Tournament since 1998.
The Spartans had a pair of SoCon All-Conference selections during the 2018-19 season in Soliman and Twitty, with the team combining for an 11-19 record. UNCG's 60.9 points allowed per game was the top mark in the Southern Conference during that season, while guard Nadine Soliman's 19.1 led the SoCon and ranked 38th in the country.
As an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb, DeGraffenreid worked specifically with the guards, planning and executing the team’s player development sessions. She coached the runner up of the Big South’s Player of the Year award in 2016, as well as coaching an All-Big South honorable mention in 2017, and a pair of All-Big South second team honorees in 2018. While at Gardner-Webb, she worked as a physical education instructor for two years.
As a professional basketball player, DeGraffenreid played with the Ramat Gan Organization in 2012 and Habbika in 2011. In her playing days in Chapel Hill, DeGraffenreid was a unanimous ACC All-Freshman honoree, was named one of the top five point guards in the nation by ESPN.com in 2009 as well as being a finalist for the Nancy Liberman Award. She was a three-time All-ACC selection and is the current all-time leader in career free throws made. She ranks third in Tar Heel history in both assists and steals and finished her career with 1,562 points.
