“It’s been a long time coming with injuries and everything,” Bohanon said. “I was able to come back and be better than where I left off.”
Bohanon, a 5-foot-10 guard, scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds in 30 minutes. She saw the most action of any non-starter.
“I feel I did pretty solid for the first game back,” Bohanon said. “It felt different because I hadn’t been out there in a while. There are still things I have to work on.”
Nadjy Tyler, who like Bohanon missed her freshman season after suffering an ACL tear in the preseason, also made her college debut, playing four minutes.
Bohanon knew right away what had happened when she hurt her knee a year ago. She suffered the same injury in her junior year at Wayne with the other knee and missed the first half of the season. The first injury was a contact injury. The second one was a non-contact injury.
“I would say when it initially happens, it’s probably worse for me,” Bohanon said. “I have a pretty high pain tolerance. After it happens, I walk it off. I feel normal. I feel like I could play again. It just gives out here and there, or you might step weird and it buckles.”
Bohanon came back from her first injury to average 6.7 points in 15 games as a junior. As a senior, she averaged 14.7 points and played in all 22 games.
That experience makes Bohanon confident she’ll be fine this season. She said she’s 100 percent now, and her knees feel stronger than ever. She credited the support she received from her family, teammates and friends for helping her through the rehabilitation process.
“I just went in headstrong and attacked it every day,” she said.
Bohanon stayed involved with the team, attending every practice, charting shot attempts by her teammates and offering support in any way she could. At games, she cheered on her teammates, and if she heard a coach call out a play, she would call it, too, to make sure it was heard.
The first couple of games last season were the hardest, Bohanon said. After that, she was able to enjoy the ride and her team’s success.
Dayton finished 25-8 last season and 15-1 in the A-10. It won the regular-season championship, and Bohanon climbed the ladder to take her turn cutting down the net after the Flyers won the A-10 tournament at UD Arena on March 7.
Dayton opened this season with a strong performance, leading Morehead State from start to finish. The victory pleased Green, who sent the team a text message from home after the game.
“She was just saying how she was proud we overcame adversity and there was good and bad from the game,” Bohanon said. “She said it’s one step at a time, and we should be grateful for the opportunity because every team wasn’t able to play.”
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