Leung is one of four Canadians who are part of the Flyers this season. She’s joined by guard Shantavia Dawkins, a junior transfer from Brampton, Ontario, and forward Ajok Madol, a sophomore transfer from Regina, Saskatchewan.
And assistant coach Kalisha Keane played her high school ball in Hamilton, Ontario, before starring at Michigan State, playing professionally overseas and being part of the Canadian National Team.
“Sometimes we’ve brought a Canadian flag to practice, and we’ve made sure the rest know all the Canadian slang,” Leung grinned.
But more than props and parlance, it’s been the play of the Canadians that’s made them stand out on the UD team.
That was never more the case than Thursday night when Leung hit big shot after big shot — she scored 11 of her 13 points in the last 5:19 of the game and nine in the final 2:49 — to lift the Flyers to their biggest victory since Coach Tamika Williams-Jeter took over the program three seasons ago.
“Providence was picked to finish third in the Big East after UConn and Creighton, two Top 25 teams coming into the season,” Williams-Jeter said. “And they returned everybody. They have a bunch of fourth and fifth-year seniors and all of them are experienced.”
While the Friars (2-3) have no Canadians on their roster, the north-of-the-border players for the 4-1 Flyers have had prominent roles in almost every game.
Dawkins, an Iowa State transfer, has started every game and scored 12 points in each of the first two outings.
Madol, who played at Minnesota last season, had 12 points coming off the bench in the loss at Duke and Thursday night was on her way to a big night — 5-for-7 from the floor for 11 points — when she got into foul trouble.
It was Leung who came up with a herculean fourth-quarter performance against the Friars, an effort that took many people by surprise considering the rough start she had to her college career.
She sat out the first two games this season due to injury — “she rolled her ankle,” Williams-Jeter said — and then missed all 12 shots she took in the next two games versus Duke and Tennessee State.
To be fair, Williams-Jeter said, Leung had just two days of practice before taking the floor against now No. 14 Duke.
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Leung said while the Canadian connection helped her get back on track, it’s about something much more than that:
“We all (the Canadians) look out for each other, but at the same time we’ve bought into something bigger than that here.”
Williams-Jeter said Leung’s mentor on the team is Ivy Wolf, the senior guard from Minster, who had 16 points Thursday, one below her team-leading 17 points-per-game average:
“They call themselves The Twins. They do almost everything together. If one is in the gym shooting, then so’s the other. Ivy really prepared her for this moment tonight.”
Leung agreed: “Ivy’s done a great job. When I first got here, she took me under her wing and showed me the ropes. She pushed me in my shooting and my overall basketball skills.”
Wolf is a long-range shooter with a short memory. A tough shooting night doesn’t deter her. With the next shot — or the next night — she’s often deadly accurate.
“That’s been a big part of my growth,” Leung said. “Listening to my coaches and the seniors and just pushing through missing and learning to move on to the next shot.
“And when I’m shooting, I try making it like it’s just another day in the gym and no one else is here.”
Madol was not surprised by Leung’s performance Thursday: “We know what she can do. She’s played on the (Canadian) national team on a grand stage.”
Leung played in the BioSteel All Canadian Futures Game (the country’s premier high school all-star game), guided her province’s Team Alberta to the U-19 Canadian national title and last season was part of the Toronto-based Crestwood Prep team that sent many of its players to Division I scholarships.
Although she visited some mid-major schools on the East Coast before coming to Dayton and connecting with the coaches, she said she had “a big chip” on her shoulder coming out of high school:
“A lot of people didn’t really count on me being able to come in and make a difference.”
She flipped that script Thursday.
Her driving layup with 5:19 left gave Dayton its first lead of the night, 51-50.
After the Friars moved back on top, Leung’s three pointer with 2:59 gave UD a two-point advantage and 68 seconds later the scenario played out again when she buried another three.
Finally, with 26 seconds left, she made two free throws to break a 61-61 tie. Providence never scored again.
“This (victory) kind of puts us on the map in the A-10,” Madol said. “We were ranked 11th (in the A-10 preseason poll) and we’re pretty mad about that. This should show we’re definitely a team to look out for in our league.”
Lueng said what others learned about the Flyers Thursday night, she and her teammates already knew:
“We know what we can do. We know who we are.”
She may be part of Team Canada come to Dayton, but as she stressed after the game: “We’ve bought into something bigger.”
And Thursday night was as big as it’s been around here in the past couple of years.
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