First-year coach Shauna Green likes the pressure. Her team returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday against St. Joseph’s (7-11, 3-2) at UD Arena.
“That’s what Dayton basketball is,” Green said. “I’m always going to put that pressure on myself. I want this team to experience as much success as we possibly can and try to make a run in the A-10, and obviously our goal is the NCAA Tournament. That’s our goal every year, and it shouldn’t change. But everything is one day at a time. There’s so many games left to be played. You can’t get ahead of yourself. Any given night, you could lose any game or you can win any game. We’ve just got to worry about getting better.”
Jenna Burdette leads the Flyers with 12.7 points and 4.9 assists per game. Green called the leadership of Burdette as well as the other upperclassmen — Kelly Austria, Saicha Grant-Allen, Christy Macioce and Andrijana Cvitkovic — crucial.
“Anytime you have a leader like Jenna, a kid who’s tough, she’s going to do everything you tell her and play as hard as she possibly can,” Green said. “Her, Kelly, Saicha, Macioce, Andy, we have really good leadership up top. They’ve bought in. They just keep working. They’re delivering the same message as the staff. That’s crucial when you’re trying to take over and it’s a new staff and new head coach. You need that support from your top guys.”
Asked to name the most improved players on the team, Green said she could name a bunch but settled on two. Grant-Allen is averaging 9.7 points and a team-best 8.3 rebounds.
“Saicha has been really important,” Green said. “She’s a threat down low. She can score with her back to the basket. Her maturity’s been huge.”
Javonna Layfield has also had a strong season. She’s averaging 8.4 points and 7.6 rebounds.
“JaVonna has been great,” Green said. “She plays a ton of minutes and rebounds and does a lot of things you don’t see in the points column.”
Saturday's game: Dayton will show its support for breast cancer awareness with its annual Pink Game.
“It’s a big game. I think it’s important,” Green said. “It touches me. My mom had breast cancer when I was a sophomore in college. She had a very rare form and luckily survived when her chances weren’t very good. Everyone on our team has been affected in some way by breast cancer.”
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