Dayton Flyers

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Dec. 26, 2005

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UD closes out its non-conference schedule with a trip to New Orleans for the Tulane Basketball Classic with games on Dec. 28 and 29. The Flyers open play at Tulane's Fogleman Arena on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET against Toledo. Then on Thursday, Dayton will face Samford or host Tulane at either 7 or 9 p.m. ET.

Dayton heads to New Orleans looking to continue one of its best seasons in recent history. The Flyers (6-3) recorded the most wins before Christmas since the 2002-03 season and with two victories this week could have the most wins before New Year's Day in its Division I history. UD had 10 wins before New Year's Day in 1983-84 en route to a 27-4 season and a berth in the NCAA Semifinals during its last year in Division II.

The Flyers will be looking to turn around their recent fortunes during in-season tournaments. Dayton has not won both games of an in-season tournament since the 2002-03 season when UD took the John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic in Reno, Nev. UD secured wins over Eastern Michigan and Eastern Washington to take the title. Two seasons ago, Dayton was swept at the Buckeye Classic (Dec. 20 & 21, 2003) by Pennsylvania and St. John's. Last year, the Flyers beat Brown in the opening game of the FIU Sun & Fun Classic before falling to host Florida International in the Championship game.

UD senior Cara Wright earned her third consecutive Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honor on Friday. Wright, a native of West Chester, Ohio, is the first A-10 women's player to be tabbed as the Player of the Week three consecutive times since the 2001-02 season.

Wright averaged 14.0 points and 14.5 rebounds per game in a pair of games at UD Arena last week. She opened with opened with 10 points, seven rebounds, three steals and a block in just 20 minutes of action during Dayton's 76-62 win over Tennessee-Martin (12/20). Wright followed with a career-high and UD Division I school record 22 rebounds in the Flyers' 65-55 loss to Cincinnati (12/22). She also added 18 points for her Conference-leading fifth double-double of the season. In fact, she had 14 points and 11 rebounds before halftime against the Bearcats on her way to a season-best in both scoring and rebounding.

The Preseason A-10 First Team pick is the only player in the Atlantic 10 to average a double-double (12.8 ppg, 10.6 rpg) this season and leads the conference in rebounding while ranking 17th in scoring. She is also fourth in blocks (1.22 bpg) and fifth in field goal percentage (.472).