DAYTON - The University of Dayton women's basketball team will travel south to take part in the 2023 Daytona Beach Invitational at the Ocean Center. The Flyers open the weekend Friday at 1:15 p.m. against Stetson.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Dayton heads into the holiday break with a 2-3 record overall and coming off a big home win over SIUE Monday. The Flyers are 0-2 on the road this season.

Williams-Jeter is in her second season in charge of her hometown Flyers, coming over after a year at Wittenberg. She has assistant coaching stops at Kansas, Kentucky, Penn State, and Ohio State.

The Flyers are averaging 69.0 points per game and giving up 78.4 points to opponents. Dayton is shooting 39.4 percent overall, 21.3 percent from three point range, and 73.4 percent from the free throw line. UD ranks 26th in the nation in offensive rebounding this year.

Leading the way for the Flyers is redshirt senior Destiny Bohanon with 11.8 points per game while graduate student Mariah Perez is chipping in 11.0 points and 8.6 rebounds and junior Arianna Smith is adding 10.8 points and 11.5 boards per outing.

SCOUTING STETSON
Stetson stays in-state for the invitational and sits at 1-4 on the season. The Hatters are 0-4 at home on the year and coming off a tough loss at Florida Atlantic Monday. Stetson's lone win came against Iona at home Saturday.

Head coach Lynn Bria is in her 15th year at the helm of the Hatters, leading her squad to three conference championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances.

As a team, Stetson is scoring just 55.2 points each contest and allowing 61.2 points to opposing squads. The Hatters are shooting 33.0 percent from the field, 24.7 percent from behind the arc, and 72.5 percent from the charity stripe. Stetson is outrebounding teams and committing fewer turnovers.

The Hatters are led by Jamiya Turner with 12.2 points 5.8 rebounds per game while Jaelyn Talley is contributing a team-high 8.4 rebounds and 6.2 points each outing.

SERIES HISTORY
The Flyers and Hatters are playing for the first time in program history.

LAST TIME OUT
Dayton held on for a thrilling 75-74 victory over SIU-Edwardsville Monday night at UD Arena. The Flyers had five players in double digits and double-doubles from Mariah Perez and Arianna Smith.

Stetson fell on the road at Florida Atlantic Monday, 50-39. The Hatters only scored 10 points in the second half and shot 26.9 percent from the field.

FLYERS PICKED NINTH IN PRESEASON POLL
Dayton was picked to finish ninth in the 2023-24 Atlantic 10 preseason poll, two spots up from where the Flyers finished last season. UD was chosen ahead of VCU, their 2023 A-10 Tournament opponent, last year's regular season champion UMass, La Salle, and Fordham. Rhode Island was tabbed as the A-10 preseason favorite ahead of Saint Joseph's, the 2023 A-10 Tournament Champion Saint Louis, and Richmond.

PEREZ NAMED THIRD TEAM PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
Graduate student Mariah Perez was selected to the All-Atlantic 10 Preseason Third Team ahead of the upcoming campaign. The New Jersey native is coming off a career season in which she was named the team's Most Improved Player. She started all 27 games and had career highs with 11.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

DOUBLING-UP
Graduate student Mariah Perez recorded 12 double-doubles last season, giving her 13 for her career. That was the most for a Flyer player since JaVonna Layfield had 19 in 2017-18. This season she has one double-double against SIUE while teammate Arianna Smith has three straight double-doubles.

THREE POINTS OF EXCELLENCE
Dayton has hit at least one three-point shot in 685 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 2, 2001, the longest streak in the Atlantic 10 Conference and one of the top streaks in the nation. The Flyers made a program-record 15 three-point field goals against Buffalo in the Connecticut World Vision Classic on Nov. 25, 2011. Dayton tied the record with 15 vs. Wright State on Nov. 28, 2012.

UP NEXT
The Flyers finish up the Daytona Beach Invitational on Saturday against Wichita State. Tip-off is at 11 a.m. at the Ocean Center.

FOLLOW #UDWBB ON SOCIAL
Follow the Flyers on X @DaytonWBB; on Instagram DaytonWBB; and on Facebook at Dayton Women's Basketball.