Women’s basketball: Dayton taking advantage of experience by moving fast in preseason practices

Dayton held its first preseason practice Sept. 29. It can practice 30 times in a six-week stretch before the season opener against Alabama A&M at 11 a.m. Nov. 9 at UD Arena.

Dayton fans can see the women’s team and the UD men’s team for the first time Saturday at the at the Henny Penny Red Blue Dayton Basketball Fan Fest at UD Arena. Doors open at 4 p.m., and the event starts at 5 p.m. Tickets cost $5 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.

The Flyers will also play Indiana University of Pennsylvania in an exhibition game at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at UD Arena.

The senior experience has allowed Green to work faster in practice this month because the players know the system.

“We’re able to put stuff in a little bit ahead of time,” Green said, “where last year, we had five true freshmen, and when we put new plan in, it took forever to do. Now we put a play in — one from last year or even a new one — and they get it quick and we’re able to move on and progress.”

The Flyers finished 14-5 last season and won the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championship with a 12-1 record but lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament and did not get to play in the NCAA tournament. The teams received their championship rings last week.

“We have a little motivation from last year,” Green said. “Granted, we won the regular season, but we still were not happy with how the season ended and I think they know what changes need to be done. The biggest thing is I love our togetherness right now. I love how hard we are working for one another. We’re a much tighter, more together team right now than we were at the end of last season, and that is a first step in order for us to be in a position to have success.”

Dayton dealt with a lengthy COVID-19 shutdown last December that resulted in the cancellation of five games. It hopes to experience a more normal season this year.

“It was just a tough year all around,” said Whalen, who led the team with 13.6 points per game. “I think just physically, mentally, trying to stay locked in that whole year was really tough. But I think our team did a really good job, and we were able to kind of take it as a bonding experience.”

Bradshaw led the team with 4.9 assists per game last season and started every game along with Whalen and Giacone, who averaged 12.4 points per game.

The other returning starters are senior forward Kyla Whitehead, who started 18 games and averaged 7.6 points, and junior forward Mariah Perez, who averaged 3.5 points. Sophomore center Tenin Magassa, the team’s third-leading scorer (9.6) and leading rebounder (7.3), is among the other key returners.

Six players on the team, including Magassa, have not experienced a noisy UD Arena. There were fewer than 200 fans at home games last season. Although UD won’t have its traditional School Day game, which drew 10,554 fans to a game two years ago, it will otherwise be back to business as usual at home games. A game against Duke at UD Arena on Nov. 12 is one of the highlights on the non-conference schedule.

“We missed the fans a ton,” Bradshaw said. “The (recorded) crowd noise was cool, but it’s definitely different than having fans. I’m excited for them to be back. UD Arena is always loud and active, and that always helps us when we play there.”