SAN FRANCISCO – Standout point guard and all-time minutes leader in San Francisco basketball history, Zhane Dikes, has inked a contract to play for Germany's Herner Turn Club.

Dikes, who graduated in the spring with a degree in entrepreneurship and innovation, will join the squad in about a week to begin preparations for the season start on Sept. 24. The team plays in the highest league in the German Basketball Federation, the DBBL.

"I remember dreaming of this ever since I was a little girl, becoming a professional basketball player," recalled Dikes. "And after working so hard day in and day out, if it wasn't for my parents and my coaches here at USF for pushing me every single day to be the best person I could be, I wouldn't have been able to do it.

"Of course, there's going to be some nerves in me going to a totally new country across the world all by myself, but I was made for change. My dad told me you're not getting better without any change, and I think this will be a learning experience for me. It's a humbling experience, and it will just teach me how to be better as a person. I honestly couldn't be more excited!"

Dikes is expected to replace former starting point guard at Herner TC, Whitney Boddie. Last season, the former WNBA player and Auburn graduate averaged 9.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.2 assists per game.

"Of course it is a risk to go for such a young player at the guard position," noted Herner TC head coach Marek Piotrowski in media reports. "But she is very talented, has the best recommendations. She penetrates consistently to the basket and has a good three-point shot. With us it will take the next step."

Dikes closed her collegiate career with the Dons as USF's all-time minutes leader, regardless of gender, and she earned All-WCC second team and 2016 All-WCC All-Tournament team recognition in her senior campaign. Along with her place atop the minutes list, she left the Hilltop as the program leader in free throws made (441) and finished with 1,466 career points, good for sixth all-time. The Las Vegas native also stands in sixth in career steals at USF (199), and is one of 15 women to reach both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in her time wearing Green and Gold.

"I'm am so proud of Z. She is going to make a fantastic professional athlete," exclaimed USF head coach Jennifer Azzi. "She has the skill set, the work ethic and she's got the build for an international guard, and I think she's got the mind and the adaptability. Her traits as a person are going to help her a lot to be successful overseas, because it's different.

"Everything is different from your life here and sometimes things make sense and sometimes they don't, and you just have to have a positive mindset in everything you do. It sounds like she's going to be on a great team with other good American players which I think is going to help her a lot too, but I'm excited for her."

Interestingly, Dikes will not be the only WCC alumna on the roster, as she joins German native and 2012 Gonzaga graduate Sunny Greinacher. Last season, Greinacher paced the Herner squad averaging team highs of 15.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as the team reached the German DBBL semifinal round of play. Kristi Bellock (Texas A&M '13) and Ireti Amojo (Washington State '13) round out the women on the roster who have U.S. collegiate playing experience.

"If this was me four years ago it would be intimidating but when I came into USF four years ago, Coach Azzi was like, Z I want you to be our starting point guard, similar to this situation," said Dikes. "I just had to take a deep breath and say alright I got this. I love a challenge. This is what I'm made for."

Dikes is not the only woman from last year's WCC-champion roster to be making a trip overseas to play professional basketball. Fellow USF graduate, Taylor Proctor, will be competing for KFUM Ostersund in Sweden this fall.

"To see Taylor and Z now going on makes me feel like I'm doing my job," noted Azzi. "And this is what they wanted. If it's not pro sports, it's whatever our players want to do after college. To see them move on and succeed just means that I'm doing my job and the University is too – we're all doing a great job for our players."