Marquette Professional Athletes

Natisha Hiedeman's Grind Finally Has Its Payoff

There's a version of Natisha Hiedeman's story that ends quietly — tucked away in some grocery store aisle, apron on, basketball career a distant "what if." Instead, the Marquette product is running the point for the Seattle Storm in 2026, and her path there is exactly the kind of story Golden Eagles fans should know.

Hiedeman was candid about how lean things got early in her professional career. "I ain't got no money," she said, describing a stretch when WNBA roster spots weren't guaranteed and grocery store shifts were keeping the lights on. It's a rare level of honesty from a professional athlete, and it reframes what it actually takes to survive on the fringe of a league where roster spots are brutally scarce and off-season income is never a given.

The grind paid off. By the 2026 season, Hiedeman has locked down the starting point guard role for Seattle — not a bench piece, not a camp invite, but a genuine starter on a franchise with championship DNA. For a program like Marquette, which has built its reputation on producing tough, compete-every-possession guards, Hiedeman is the archetype made real.

Her rise is also a reminder of what makes the WNBA such a uniquely demanding league. Unlike their NBA counterparts, many WNBA players navigate the off-season without the financial cushion that allows for full-time training and recovery. Some play overseas. Some — like Hiedeman — pick up whatever work keeps them ready for the next opportunity. The ones who make it back aren't just talented. They're stubborn in the best possible way.

For Marquette's alumni base, Hiedeman's story lands close to home. The Golden Eagles have long punched above their weight in women's basketball, and watching one of their own outwork the circumstances and claim a starting role in the country's top women's professional league is the kind of outcome a program points to when recruiting the next generation.

There's no fairy-tale shortcut in Hiedeman's timeline — just shifts, setbacks, and an unwillingness to let the game go. Now she's calling plays for the Storm, and that grocery store chapter is just backstory.

Camryn Taylor (Lynx) is also in the league this season, though no significant activity was reported during this period.

Natisha Hiedeman had the kind of game that makes highlight reels even when the final score doesn't. The Marquette alumna dished out 14 assists for the Seattle Storm on Thursday, September 24 against the Dallas Wings — a performance that stands as a potential season or career high and one of the more eye-catching individual stat lines of the WNBA week, regardless of school affiliation.

The assists weren't the whole story, but they were the story. Hiedeman also added 10 points and two steals, rounding out a stat sheet that read like a point guard fully in command of an offense. The Storm lost the contest 91-103, and Hiedeman finished at -11 in plus/minus — a reminder that individual brilliance and team results don't always travel together — but 14 dimes in a single game is the kind of number that transcends a box score footnote.

The performance capped a week that had otherwise been a grind. Seattle dropped all three games in the September 20–26 stretch, and Hiedeman's earlier outings showed considerably less pop. She finished with 5 points and 3 assists in a 57-70 loss to Golden State on Sunday the 20th, then mustered just 4 points and 3 assists in a 77-98 defeat to Las Vegas on Monday the 21st. Both games left her in double-digit negative plus/minus territory, reflecting a Storm squad that struggled to stay competitive across the week.

What made Thursday's performance notable was precisely that context. Hiedeman didn't manufacture a big assist night in a blowout win or garbage time — she orchestrated offense for a team fighting through a rough stretch, and the 14-assist mark emerged from genuine playmaking volume. For Marquette fans tracking the Golden Eagles' WNBA footprint, it's the clearest evidence yet that Hiedeman remains a legitimate starting-caliber point guard in the league.

The Storm's losing week dims the backdrop, but Hiedeman's Thursday showing is the kind of milestone alumni can point to with real pride — a Golden Eagle running an offense at the game's highest level and, for one night at least, doing it better than almost anyone in the league.