Among them there has been:
• Annie Oakley, “Little Miss Sure Shot,” the star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, who’s from right up the road in Darke County and could outshoot any man in the country.
• Belle Starr, “The Bandit Queen,” who rode with Jesse James and the Younger Brothers and would become, like the other women mentioned here, a popular heroine of dime novels, movies and then TV shows.
• Calamity Jane, the fearless frontierswoman who was a sidekick of Wild Bill Hickok and still gets atta-girls today on stage, screen and in print both here in the U.S. and in Europe.
All three showed themselves as bullseye-hitting, take-no-guff women.
That’s why it was OK for Fatima Ibrahim, the Flyers’ 6-foot-3 post presence, to put on that white cowboy hat fitted with the blinking lights after Sunday’s game.
UD promoted the contest against Belmont – the Nashville school with the accomplished women’s basketball program – as Country Music Day. The first 200 fans through the doors were given those light-‘em-up white cowboy hats.
By the time the game started, the court was surrounded by twinkling faux Stetsons.
But out on the floor things got pretty dim for the Flyers right from the opening tip. It took five seconds for Belmont to roar down and score.
It’s lucky the Dayton women didn’t bring their hats with them in the first half. They would have ended up giving them away.
UD had 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes, 16 by halftime and would end the game with 24.
In the first half they were getting beaten on the boards and giving up basket after basket in the paint. Just seven minutes into the game, Dayton already trailed by 11.
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Going into the dressing at the intermission, the Flyers were down 35-25 and that’s when UD coach Tamika Williams-Jeter came in with both guns blazing.
“Yeah, I went off at halftime,” she said with a quiet smile before shaking her head both at the eruption and what had caused it. “I told them, ‘Their post players are tipping the ball, doing all kinds of stuff. Their physicality is taking us out of it.’
“I told Fatima, ‘There’s no way their kids can stay on you. You can’t be soft. You have to post up harder.’”
And that wasn’t a grasp at straws solution for Williams-Jeter.
Ibrahim had shown in the past that’s exactly what she can do.
She transferred to UD this season after two years at North Dakota, where last season she was named the Summit League’s Defensive Player of the Year.
She had a game 10 days earlier against Mercyhurst where she swatted six shots.
She leads the Flyers in blocked shots (2.2 pg); rebounds (8.8 pg) and field goal percentage (a whopping 80.8 percent.) She’s second in scoring (13.8 points per game).
“Fatima can be a real paint protector for us,” Williams-Jeter said. “She can alter shots, rebound and finish (on offense) with either hand.”
Willians-Jeter told her, in no uncertain terms, to go back out and play how she can play.
And that’s just what happened.
In the second half, Ibrahim added 11 points and seven rebounds to her first half totals and finished with a double-double: 17 points and 11 rebounds.
The Flyers twice cut the margin to one point, but never could take the lead. They couldn’t hit the big go-ahead shot – they went 3-for-18 from three-point range, that’s 16.7 percent – and, coupled with the early miscues, that’s trouble when you’re playing Belmont.
“That’s a good team, a tournament team,” Williams-Jeter said. “They’ll be in the NCAA Tournament or the WNIT this season.”
The Bruins made it to the championship game of the WNIT last March and were picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference this season.
Two nights earlier they lost to No. 12 Tennessee by 10 on the Vols’ court and in the season opener they battled No 6 Oklahoma on the road before fading at the end.
Sunday, though, Williams-Jeter had been right. The Bruins couldn’t contain Ibrahim in the second half.
“Afterward I asked her, ‘Do I have to yell at you every game?’” Williams -Jeter said with a smile. “And she told me ‘Yes!’”
With tongue in cheek, Williams-Jeter voiced a solution: “I might have to come in early every game and just punch her in the belly a little bit to get her ready.”
Family means everything
Ibrahim laughed and said her coach’s halftime approach hadn’t hit the wrong nerve with her:
“I don’t take it personal. And really, that’s kind of the way I grew up. In our culture you listen to your (elders.) You do things like they say.”
Ibrahim was born in Nigeria and raised in Benin City, which, with 1.4 million people, is the fourth largest city in the nation.
She lived there until she was nine and then immigrated with her family to Canada. They ended up in Winnipeg, Manitoba and eventually Fatima gravitated to basketball.
Tall and talented in high school, she got offers from several Canadian colleges and the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.
Over two years, she played in 48 games, started six and last season averaged 6.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
She said she entered the transfer portal because she wanted a chance “to do more” on the court. She said she drew interest from several schools, including Buffalo, Toledo, Ole Miss and Dayton, which she admits she knew nothing about.
The Flyers though have a real Canadian connection:
Assistant coach Kalisha Keane is from Ontario, played for the Canadian Senior National Team and starred at Michigan State.
Four other players on the roster are from Canada: Shantavia Dawkins, Olivia Leung, Ajok Madol and M.G. Talle.
When she visited Dayton, Ibrahim said she knew it was the place for her:
“Coach Meek (Tamika) is awesome. Her energy is great, and she really promotes that sense of family. And that’s big in my culture. In Nigeria, family means everything.
“I love it here now. I feel like I’m surrounded by people who value me and see the best in me.”
‘A turning point’
On the court, Ibrahim said she sees her role as “the person who’ll do the dirty work.”
“I’ve got to box out, rebound, block shots, defend inside,” she said. “When you do that, it gets the team pumped up and ignited.”
While it’s not the stuff many people take notice of during the game, it’s necessary.
“Someone has to do it and I see it as my job,” she said. “I don’t mind the dirty work.”
And yet, what she does and the way she looks doing it are two different things. She wears one, long white legging on her left leg as a fashion statement. She has long braided her, big eye lashes and a sparkling gem in her nose.
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Credit: Erik Schelkun
“Hey, you’ve got to look good out there no matter what you do,” she laughed.
Accessories aside, she did look good in the second half.
“Today was a turning point for me as far as learning what I need to do – all game – to help my team,” she said,
The Flyers got other help from two of its guards – Nayo Lear had 15 points and Olivia Leung 14 – and guard Shantavia Dawkins played well coming off the bench.
After the game, the players had an autograph signing session for the crowd of 2,171 and Ibrahim donned one of the cowboy hats.
She said it was just the second time in her life to ever wear one: “The first was my friend’s birthday party back in North Dakota … I think I like it.”
She gave the hat a little tilt, adjusted the brim and said:
“How’s it look?”
After that second half, she was told, “You look like you belong under that hat.”
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