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UD women’s basketball team faces tough start

By Doug Harris, Staff Writer 1:19 AM Thursday, October 29, 2009

Jim Jabir has discovered one drawback to building up the University of Dayton women’s basketball program: Many opponents looking for easy pickings no longer will schedule the Flyers.

“Some teams don’t want to play us that would have played us before,” the seventh-year coach said. “We’ve lost a whole group of schools we used to play all the time.”

Some elite programs, though, are still willing to travel to UD Arena — call it hubris or merely a sign that coaches want to test their teams on the road before conference play — and Jabir and his staff have put together perhaps the most daunting nonleague schedule in the program’s history.

The Flyers open the season by hosting Michigan State, a Sweet 16 participant last year, on Nov. 13 — two days before a visit from NCAA runner-up Louisville.

UD will then play Georgetown (a mid-level Big East team), Seattle University (a Division I newcomer that went 20-9 as a D-II team last season) and national powerhouse Purdue in the Boilermakers’ BTI Classic.

“It’s nice because it’s the first time we can go against great teams and see how we measure up, see if we’re as good as we think we are,” Jabir said. “That was the purpose of the schedule. I think this: If we can play well at home in the first two games, it tells our community we’re for real and it tells our kids we can compete with anybody.

“We can go 0-5, too. We have such work to do. But I like the fact that we’re getting into a  position where we have a chance.”

Junior Kristin Daugherty and sophomore Justine Raterman were both preseason All-Atlantic 10 second-team selections, and the Flyers return their top seven players from a team that finished 21-14 and played in the WNIT for the second straight year.

“It’s a big motivating factor more than anything,” Daugherty said of the opening two foes. “Both those teams are high-caliber. We’re really looking forward to competing with them. And hopefully we can pull out a couple wins — that’s what our goal is. But just so we play hard and compete, I think we’ll be pleased with that effort.”

News and notes

• Lindsay Fletemier has been named A-10 offensive player of the week in volleyball for the fourth time this season. The Flyers are 20-2, 9-0 in the league and have the 26th-most votes in the AVCA national Top 25.

• Junior Amanda Cowdrey, who transferred from Albany, reached 1,000 career digs and kills in volleyball as the Flyers swept two games last weekend.

• Goalie Katherine Boone was named A-10 women’s soccer rookie of the week for the second time this season.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or at dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com

»The Flyers have some options for their fifth starter in basketball. Read more and see our photos at DaytonDailyNews.com/ud

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