Coaching Staff
Cetera Degraffenreid
Associate Head Coach
Cetera DeGraffenreid enters her sixth season at UNCG in the 2023-24 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.
Alex Miller
Assistant Coach
Alex Miller enters her fourth season as assistant coach for UNCG women’s basketball in 2023-24. Miller came to UNCG after coaching at Mississippi Valley State University for two seasons.
Prior to MVSU, Miller coached at Hillside High School in Durham and Team Wall 16U & 17U AAU teams, sponsored by NBA player John Wall, in Raleigh during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
She was a guard for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill women’s basketball team from 2004-09. She was a four-time Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion and played in the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Final Fours. Miller was a top on the ball defender and led the team in charges.
Fred Applin
Assistant Coach
Head Coach Trina Patterson has announced the hiring of Fred Applin as an assistant coach in June 2023.
Applin comes to Greensboro after two seasons as the women’s basketball associate head coach at NC Central joining the Eagles in June 2021. He has been coaching for over 30 years at every stage, including the Final Four, and has spent the nine years prior to NCCU as the head women’s basketball coach at Charleston Southern University (CSU). He also served as head coach for former MEAC member Hampton University for two seasons.
“I am excited to have Fred join our program,” stated Head Coach Trina Patterson. “He brings a wealth of experiences from different levels and roles. Fred has a passion for teaching the game, he is a proven recruiter, and he will pure into the development of our players at all levels.”
During his time at CSU, Applin led the Bucs to the Big South Conference semifinals in 2017 and 2019 - as well as an appearance in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI). He tied the program record for single-season wins with 18 in 2017 and won a BSC Tournament game in three consecutive seasons.
Applin boasts in impressive resume with experience in the ACC, Big 12, Pac 12 and Conference USA. He has additional coaching experience at East Carolina University, University of Washington, Wake Forest University, University of Texas, University of Houston and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the WBCA, Black Coaches’ Association, and member of Kappa Alpha Psi. Applin dedicates time to his teams’ academic and community service efforts as well. Two of his teams in particular – ECU and Hampton – have been honored for their work in the classroom, as both teams boasted the highest team GPAs in respective program histories during Applin’s tenure.
A 1985 graduate of Elon University, Applin competed in both football and track & field for the Phoenix and was a member of the NAIA National Championship football team. He went on to earn his master’s degree in therapeutic recreation from NCCU in 1989. As a multisport student-athlete, Applin was recently inducted into the Samson County (North Carolina) Sports Hall of Fame in the class of 2022.
Applin and wife Cora have three children; daughters Anaiah and Hillary and son Michael.
Abby Vampatella
Director of Recruiting/Assistant Coach
Abby Vampatella was promoted to Director of Recruiting/Assistant Coach in September 2023.
“Abby has worked with our program for two seasons,” said Coach Patterson. “She brings added value as a task accomplisher, positivity expert, and teacher through video. I am thrilled to promote Abby to this new position of director of recruiting / assistant coach. I am positive that she will continue to perform remarkably. Furthermore, I see Abby as one of the top young coaches in our industry.”
She previously served as the director of player development for the Spartans, where she has been since August 2022.
Vampatella is currently working towards earning her Master of Applied Arts and Sciences degree. She began as a graduate assistant to the UNCG women’s basketball team. She aided the coaching staff with recruiting visits, scouting, practice plans, while managing all social media accounts for the program, creating graphics and videos, and taking photos. She also worked closely with the director of basketball operations on food, travel, and other team operations.
Vampatella is a 2021 graduate of Gordon College in Massachusetts, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education with a minor in history. She played basketball for the Fighting Scots and was the vice president for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Letoya McBride
Director of Basketball Operations/Assistant Coach
Letoya Twitty McBride comes to UNCG in September 2023 from The YMCA of Greater Spartanburg, where she served as the Youth and family programs director for the previous two years. While at the YMCA, she helped manage all youth and family programs, managed onboarding team members, supervised and reviewed all contracts associated with vendors, coordinated summer camps, and more.
“We are excited to have Letoya join our staff as the director of basketball operations,” said Head Coach Trina Patterson. “Letoya's experience as a leader with a national non-profit organization as well as her previous experience as director of basketball operations brings a unique skill set to our program. We are pleased to have LeToya join our Spartan family.”
Prior to her time at the YMCA, Twitty served as the athletics coordinator at the Polk County Parks & Recreation in Columbus, N.C., where she primarily managed all youth and adult sports leagues.
Twitty got her start in college athletics at Gardner-Webb as the manager for women’s basketball from August 2012 to December 2014. She was later promoted to the director of operations/administrative assistant for the Bulldogs, where she served for over three years.
Twitty earned her Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Gardner-Webb in December of 2014.