Concordia University St. Paul Athletics

A two-time NSIC Tournament Most Valuable Player and the NSIC Co-Player of the Year as a senior, Katie (LaViolette) Fischer was the floor general for a women’s basketball program that produced a 95-32 overall record (50-14 NSIC), won two NSIC regular season and three NSIC Tournament championships while making the NCAA Tournament all four years, reaching at least the second round three times including one Sweet Sixteen run to the region championship game.
 
She helped the team start 18-0 as a senior, reaching as high as second in the WBCA Division II Top-25 Coaches’ Poll, storming through the season with a 28-3 final record including back-to-back NSIC regular season and tournament championships.
 
The Bears reached at least 20 wins all four years, running the program’s 20-plus win streak to seven seasons including six NCAA Tournament appearances in a row. They finished her senior season ranked 14th in the country.
 
The Manitowoc, Wisconsin native led NCAA Division II with 297 assists as a junior was second in the country with 8.5 assists per game as a senior while leading the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.32). The consummate teammate, (LaViolette) Fischer wrapped up her career tied for ninth in DII women’s basketball history with 775 assists (now 13th) while ranking 14th all-time with 6.40 assists per game (now 18th). She became the seventh player in DII history to achieve 1,000 career points (1,082), 700 assists (775) and 400 rebounds (453). She holds the NSIC and CSP career assist records, the NSIC and CSP single season assist record and her 297 assist junior year was the fourth most in a season in DII history at the time (now sixth). 
 
She was a strong postseason player, holding the top three NSIC Tournament assist per game averages in the conference record book while also leading the league in the regular season in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio three times.
 
In addition to her nationally-prominent assist records, she also ranked second in the league in steals in her senior (2.23) and junior (1.81) seasons while also ranking 12th in scoring (12.5 & 12.2) each year, as well.
 
A WBCA All-America honorable mention pick as a senior, she was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning third team honors as a junior and second team honors as a senior as she carried a 4.0 cumulative grade points average. She was also a two-time Daktronics All-Region and two-time All-NSIC pick, earning second team honors as a junior and first team as a senior for each of the awards.
 
(LaViolette) Fischer was awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, one of 58 winter student-athletes (174 total) awarded $7,500 for outstanding academic, athletic and community performance as an undergraduate. After earning a degree in kinesiology from CSP, she stayed with the women’s basketball program as a graduate assistant, earning a master’s in organizational management.
 
After earning her master’s and spending two years as an assistant coach, (LaViolette) Fischer returned to the hardwood as a player as she joined NSIC Co-Player of the Year and former teammate Amanda (Behnke) Johnson for the Ringwood Hawks in an Australian professional league.
 
When she returned to the U.S., she also returned to CSP as a faculty member, first as a professor in the Kinesiology and Health Sciences department before being elevated to Dean of the College of Health and Science. She obtained her Doctor of Public Health degree in 2016 from Capella University.
 
Katie resides in Mendota Heights with her husband, Jeff and their two sons, Tommy and Teddy.