The Northern Arizona University women鈥檚 basketball team officially announced the signing of transfer Eri Blithikioti on Tuesday.
Blithikioti joins a growing list of transfers and recruits set to play for Lumberjacks head coach Laura Dinkens in her first year at the helm of the program.
The 5-foot-11 guard from Athens, Greece, joins the Lumberjacks by way of UC San Diego, where she played her first two seasons for the Tritons. Blithikioti聽played in all 31 of UC San Diego鈥檚 games as a freshman, including three consecutive starts against Boise State, Montana and Big West Conference opponent Cal State Bakersfield.
Blithikioti made her collegiate debut on Nov. 6, 2023, against California Baptist in a 64-50 loss. In her next outing, she put up a career-high 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including sinking both her 3-point attempts against NAIA Life Pacific. She also earned four of her 10 total blocks that season in that game.
A connection of hers to NAU came fairly quickly after her best career showing. The Tritons hosted the Lumberjacks in Blithikioti鈥檚 fifth career game on Nov. 19, 2023. She totaled six points on 3-of-3 shooting across 20 minutes of action. The Lumberjacks doubled up the Tritons in the second quarter, 26-13, en route to a five-point win in which four NAU players scored in double figures. That was one of four games all season where Blithikioti shot 100% from the floor.
As a freshman, she averaged two points per game while playing an average of 14.5 minutes per contest.
Blithikioti saw a significant increase in minutes early last season as a sophomore. She averaged more than 24 minutes on the court in UC San Diego鈥檚 first four games, including 27 minutes against Arizona and 33 minutes against Saint Mary鈥檚 in a double-overtime loss. She scored a season-high eight points in that game against Arizona.
Later in the season, she followed up with another 33 minutes of play against Cal State Fullerton and dished out a career-high nine assists.
Blithikioti鈥檚 numbers dropped slightly in her sophomore campaign. She played in 28 of UC San Diego鈥檚 36 games while averaging 1.1 points per appearance. She averaged 10.9 minutes per game in the 2024-25 season.
UC San Diego went 32-35 across the last two seasons with Blithikioti on the roster. The Tritons won the Big West Tournament Championship last season as the No. 4 seed to receive an automatic bid into their first NCAA Tournament at the Division I level.
Blithikioti represented Greece in the U16 FIBA Challengers in 2021. She played for Panathinaikos in 2019 and Kronos Agiou Dimitriou B.C. from 2020 to 2023 in Greece before coming to the United States to play collegiately.