Lady Indians' basketball star Destiny Blake commits to Del Tech

Last week, senior basketball standout Destiny Blake signed her letter of intent to play this fall at Delaware Tech. In the winter season, Blake became just the fourth female basketball player at Indian River to reach the 1,000-point milestone as a Lady Indian, and the first to do so since 1998.

Coastal Point • Ryan Saxton
Indian River senior Destiny Blake signs her letter of intent with DelTech last week. She is joined by her mother, Merrial (front, left), as well as (from left) DelTech girls’ head basketball coach Jim Kane, DelTech athletic director Ron Burgess and Indian River girls’ head basketball coach, John Frye.

Blake, who has worked hard throughout her high-school career, said she’s wanted to play basketball at the collegiate level for quite some time.

“I really developed as a player and as a person with Coach [John] Frye,” she said. “I noticed over the years, my attitude got better. As a freshman, I was hard to handle, but each season I improved who I was. My conditioning and ball-handling skills got better, too.”

Frye, who stepped in as Indian River’s head girls’ basketball coach at the start of Blake’s high-school career, said he is proud of the individual that she had become.

“It’s really been a pleasure to see someone work on and off the court the way that Destiny has,” said Frye. “To be able to go play at college, though – this is the bonus part of it all. As I got to know Destiny, I noticed that I truly cared for the person, as well as the player. All of those days of practice and games lead up to this. To be able to play basketball in college, it just goes to show you how far you’ve come. It’s a great achievement, and we’re all extremely proud of her.”

The coaching staff at DelTech said they were pleased to announce the addition of Blake to the team.

“We’ve watched her play a bit,” said DelTech women’s basketball coach, Jim Kane. “She’s got great ball skills and sees the floor. She plays strong defense, and can distribute the ball and get it inside for us. We really like her basketball intellect.”

Kane had coached in Wilmington and also at Caravel for eight years.