Williams-Jeter’s third Dayton team has eight newcomers

“It was really good,” she said. “It’s something I would like to do every year.”

With eight newcomers on a 15-woman roster, the offseason team-building experience was needed. Williams-Jeter enters her third season at Dayton looking to continue building momentum. The Flyers finished 12-19 last season after posting a 7-21 mark in her first season.

“With this portal, you’re bringing in new teams,” Williams-Jeter said. “It’s not like you’re bringing in freshmen, and they’re hanging around for years. We just flipped our whole roster.”

Dayton added five transfers: 5-8 junior guard Shantavia Dawkins, of Iowa State; 5-10 guard Rikki Harris, a graduate student from Ohio State; 6-0 sophomore guard Jayda Johnson, of Boston College; 6-2 sophomore guard/forward Ajok Madol, of Minnesota; and 5-7 guard Nicole Stephens, a grad student from Columbia.

The 2024-25 roster also includes three freshmen: 5-10 guard Olivia Leung, of Calgary, Alberta; 6-0 guard Kamryn Grant, of Africentric High School in Columbus; and 6-2 forward/center Molly O’Riordan, of Barrington, Ill.

The two top returners are: 5-8 senior guard Ivy Wolf, who led the team with 11.9 points per game; and 6-2 senior forward Arianna Smith, who ranked third on the team in scoring (9.2). Four other players who averaged double figure minutes return: 6-0 senior forward Shannon Wheeler; 5-10 junior guard Nayo Lear; 6-4 sophomore center Eve Fiala; and 5-9 sophomore guard Denika Lightbourne.

“I think Nayo’s made a big jump,” Williams-Jeter said. “Just taking her off point is going to be huge. Ivy Wolf is Ivy Wolf — still super competitive, leading all shooting drills. I think (Arianna) being one of the top rebounders in the country will bring that experience. Eve, I don’t know if there was a most improved award last year, but she definitely won it. Now she has Colleen (Day Henderson) working on post work and footwork and shots with her. That kid can be really good. All the returners have improved. It’s a different space for them because it’s so competitive. If you don’t bring your game, there are talented kids with a lot of experience that will take your heart out that day. That only makes you better.”

Everyone has been on campus and healthy this summer.

“This is the first time I have a couple of kids with some experience who have played in the NCAA tournament multiple times,” Williams-Jeter said.

Stephens played 11 minutes for Columbia in a 72-68 loss to Vanderbilt in the First Four in March. She averaged 4.4 points in 19.1 minutes in three seasons.

Harris averaged 4.4 points in 17.3 minutes per game in her fourth season at Ohio State. She scored seven points in 32 minutes in two NCAA tournament games this past season. She played in nine NCAA tournament games in the past three seasons.

“That mentality and that the ownership of the team has jumped tremendously with those two people in the gym,” Williams-Jeter said.

Williams-Jeter and her assistants had plenty of scholarships to use in the spring. They lost three players to the portal, including Coldwater graduate Riley Rismiller, who transferred to Kent State, and two others, Destiny Bohanon and Mariah Perez, to graduation.

“You’re under the gun,” she said. “You have some decisions to make as far as who you’re going to to keep and who you’re going to let go.”

Williams-Jeter wanted to sign at least four transfers. They ended up with five and 14 scholarship players, plus walk-on Eleanor Monyek.

“Getting Rikki was huge fur us,” she said.

Williams-Jeter expects at least two of the three freshmen to play quite a bit.

“We have some young, talented kids,” she said. “We have some experienced kids. Then we have kids who are used to winning. You can be experienced in losing. But we added some winners, who know what that looks like and feels like.”

Williams-Jeter has heard from other coaches who told her the team will feel more like her team in Year 3. That’s where she’s at right now.

“For us, it was just that vision,” she said. “The standard doesn’t change with the coaching staff at the University of Dayton. You have to win. That’s what people come for. That’s why I’m here. I love that challenge. But you have to have experience, and the one thing I learned being a head coach is the only way you learn is to be under the gun and do it. There’s a lot to learn about what type of kid is going to fare well in conference play. What is it going to take to have a winning record in non-conference? Those are all things after two years you start to figure out.”