May 2, 2009
DAYTON, Ohio - The 2008-09 University of Dayton women's basketball team had one of its best seasons in history finishing the year with a 21-14 overall record and making its third-ever and second-straight appearance in the postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament. Head Coach Jim Jabir recognized the success of the season by announcing this year's award winners at the women's basketball awards celebration on Saturday.
Freshman Justine Raterman earned the honor of UD's Most Valuable Player. Freshman Kayla Moses and senior Marie Rosche shared the honor of Most Improved. Casey Nance was given the Coaches Award. Kristin Daugherty took home the Scholar-Athlete award, while freshman Patrice Lalor was honored with the Flyer Award.
Coming off a thrilling and record breaking 2007-08 campaign, this year's youthful squad went beyond preseason expectations. The Flyers success was due in part to a balanced effort from a young and athletic team that featured six freshmen, three of whom started and two of whom were the top options of the bench.
"This past season was special in that a new cast joined a few returning players to create something new," said head coach Jim Jabir.
Jabir guided the Flyers to their second straight 20-win season. UD also won its first ever postseason game in the program's modern history.
Dayton was led by the program's first Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, Justine Raterman. She was the team's leading scorer and rebounder with 13.1 ppg and 8.5 rpg. Raterman, who was awarded the team's MVP award at the reception, was the only rookie to rank in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding in the Atlantic 10 Conference. She also ranked fifth nationally in rebounding among all Division I freshmen and 11th in scoring.
Kayla Moses and Marie Rosche both showed dramatic improvement throughout the 2008-09 campaign garnering Most Improved honors. Moses stepped up her play during the conference portion of the season scoring double figures in four-straight games. She averaged 6.8 ppg during A-10 play. As for Rosche, her minutes nearly tripled from the previous season. She averaged career-bests in points per game (3.4) and rebounds per game (3.1).
2008-09 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team selection Casey Nance took the Coaches Award. Nance led the Atlantic 10 in blocks per game (1.8). She averaged 6.5 ppg and 6.5 rpg during the season.
Dayton's second-leading scorer (12.7 ppg), Kristin Daugherty, garnered the team's academic award. Daugherty boasts a 3.69 GPA as a communications major.
The Flyer Award went to Patrice Lalor, who led the team in assists with 119 on the year which is a new program record for assists in a single season by a Flyer freshman. Lalor finished the year ranked sixth in the A-10 in assists (3.4 apg) and placed fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.24).
"Our success shouldn't surprise anyone because what we have is a talented group that cares," said Jabir."When you have that combination, great things happen. Now it's up to us to continue our improvement to take the program further."
The Flyers return all of their starters and the top seven scorers from last season.
