Over on the Dayton sideline, the plan also was sound, but more wishful thinking.
“Our mindset was, get a stop, a score, another stop, and then one more score,” Nicole Stephens, UD’s new grad school point guard from Columbia, recalled later in matter-of-fact fashion.
But that’s because the Ivy League transfer had gone out turned the far-fetched strategy into a one-woman reality show.
And that’s why she had come to Dayton.
A year ago at Columbia, her most visible contributions game after game came during the players’ pregame introductions. She was a sub whose big assignment was to stand in front of the bench and greet each starter with their own intricate-maneuver handshake.
The school’s student newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator, even featured her routine in a big story before the team played in its first-ever NCAA Tournament game.
Although the story was fine, Stephens wanted to be known as a point guard — the one who helped lead Pickerington Central to two state championship games a few years back — not a choreographer.
She’s all about hoops — not handshakes — and this was her chance to show it.
SEMO inbounded the ball and soon the Flyers trapped Redhawks’ guard Indiya Bowen. Her desperation pass was stolen by Stephens, who roared down the court with defenders in pursuit and scored on a fast break layup to cut the deficit to one with 1:36 left.
She followed that with a mad dash back up the court and within 10 seconds had positioned herself in the paint, just in time to take a charge by Kennedy Claybrooks. Right after that UD’s Arianna Smith scored on a layup to put Dayton ahead, 71-70.
SEMO would never score again, and Dayton won, 75-70.
It marked the first time in head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter’s three seasons at UD that her team has opened the year with a victory.
The coach hopes this is a sign that Flyers’ women’s basketball is turning the page and getting back to a familiar tale of ongoing hoops success. During a 13-season span from 2010 to 2022, UD went to nine NCAA Tournaments, including eight in nine years.
The past two seasons have been a 19-40 struggle.
This season Williams-Jeter brought in eight new players, including four transfers. The two grad students — Rikki Harris from Ohio State and Stephens — have considerable experience.
Harris played in 117 games for the Buckeyes and Stephens — who missed most of one season after ankle surgery — played in 61.
Both shined in the fourth quarter on Tuesday.
A bigger guard at 5-foot-10, Harris took over some of the ball-handling duties late and finished with 10 points and five rebounds
Stephens led the Flyers with 15 points — thanks to 3-for-5 shooting from long range — and had three steals, three boards, two assists and a blocked shot to counter three turnovers and early foul trouble.
‘I want to be part of it’
As her Pickerington Central team won a state crown, finished as state runners-up another year and she was named third team All-Ohio, Stephens drew considerable college attention, including from Williams-Jeter, then an assistant at Penn State.
Four different Ivy League schools sought her as well and she chose Columbia, but the Lions cancelled her first season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She came off the bench in 24 games her second year and then her third season (2022-23) was cut short after seven games because of an ankle injury that required surgery and got her a medical redshirt.
Last season she severely strained all the ligaments in her other ankle and missed the preseason. She ended up playing in 30 games and averaging 4.4 points per game.
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Although she had two years of eligibility remaining, she graduated with a sociology degree last May and she said the Ivy League doesn’t allow grad students to play basketball.
That sent her to the transfer portal, where she drew a lot of interest and was considering Georgetown, Santa Clara and Clemson before deciding on UD for several reasons, including being closer to home for her family to come watch her, but especially because of Williams-Jeter.
“The other teams recruiting me only knew me as a Columbia player and I feel I didn’t get to fully play my game there,” she said. “Coach Meek has known me since high school. She knows my game and what I can bring.
“When we talked, she instilled that belief and confidence in me to get back to the player I used to be. That played a big part in my coming here.
“I know what she’s trying to do here, and I want to be a part of it. I think all the new girls she’s brought in have embraced that and the crowd we have here and the whole Dayton Flyers experience.”
‘I’m enjoying basketball again’
Stephens’ debut got off to a rough start Tuesday night.
Less than a minute into the second quarter — after she’d picked up her second foul — a miffed Williams-Jeter brought her to the bench for the rest of the half. With two back-up point guards unavailable. Stephens’ foul trouble could have been fatal for the Flyers.
At halftime Stephens — who’d also been held scoreless — said she drew a bit of her coach’s ire:
“Coach Meek laid into me a little bit about how I need to be on the court. She said they rely on me a lot to make big plays. I took it all in and my teammates picked me up and told me to forget about what just happened and start new.
“Everyone has emotions, but it’s about how you control them. How you respond and that’s what I had to do.”
After starting the third quarter with a missed field goal — she was then 0-3 from the floor — and two errant free throws, she did start fresh.
She made three straight shots: a pair of three pointers and a fast break layup. In the fourth quarter she blocked a shot, got an offensive rebound, stole the ball, made three more baskets and took that charge.
“She’s the leader of our team,” said Williams-Jeter. “She can’t make as many mistakes as everybody else, but she carries that well.”
After the game, as Stephens stood there talking about what had just transpired, you noticed a hummingbird tattoo on the part of one shoulder that stuck out of her jersey top.
“There’s actually more you can’t see,” she said. “There’s a cardinal, that was my grandmother’s favorite bird, and a robin and a snapdragon. It’s just childhood memories of my grandmother. We used to sit outside her window at breakfast and we’d watch the birds with her bird book.”
Janice Stephens has since passed away. She was 92.
Tuesday night though her granddaughter went birding again.
This time she focused on the Redhawks.
She didn’t need a bird feeder, binoculars, or a bird guide.
Just a stop, a score, another stop, and then one more score.
“That was a lot of fun,” she said. “I’m enjoying basketball again.”
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