Women’s basketball: Dayton Flyers return to action 26 days after last game

The first game comes 26 days after the Flyers last saw game action in a 77-74 loss to Akron at UD Arena on Dec. 6. COVID-19 issues within the program — positive tests and contact tracing that resulted in other players and staff members having to quarantine — resulted in the cancellation of five non-conference games.

“It’s been tough,” Dayton coach Shauna Green said Thursday. “I feel for our kids. We really have not had much practice time. We finally got back to it five days before Christmas. Then we came back and started up again on the 27th. We’ve had a good couple weeks. It’s the most consistent we’ve practiced in terms of being on the court for that long. It’s the best we’ve practiced in terms of how hard they’ve competed and their consistency. We’re really made strides. We haven’t had the games to test it, but I’m happy with their focus and how they’ve attacked every single day.”

Dayton opened the season Nov. 25 with a 71-57 victory at Morehead State. Green didn’t coach in that game because she was quarantined with COVID-19. She came back to coach the second non-conference game, but then COVID-19 struck again and Dayton was forced to cancel games against Charlotte, Alabama A&M, Indiana State, Florida and Central Michigan.

Players have been on different timelines as far as quarantining, and the whole team was back together at practice for the first since November on Wednesday.

“Before Christmas, we were going with really low numbers,” Green said. “That was hard, too, because we don’t have practice players. We were trying to make it as competitive as we can. Without the numbers, we couldn’t scrimmage. We didn’t have 10 players. We had to get creative as coaches. It was nice to have everyone back and everyone cleared and ready to go these past few days.”

Dayton, Saint Joseph’s (2-0) and Saint Louis (2-0) all tied for the fewest non-conference games in the A-10. VCU led the way by playing seven non-conference games. Saint Louis had to pause its season for a third time Wednesday because of another positive COVID test. It has had seven games postponed or cancelled.

The tough times the players experienced in December was one reason Green sent them home for Christmas instead of trying to fit in more practices.

“They’ve made so many sacrifices the whole year,” Green said. “They hadn’t been able to go home. For me, first as their coach and second as a mom, I knew it was important for them to be with their families and for them to be surrounded by their loved ones. They’ve been through too much. They really came back refreshed. I thought we would be sluggish, but we’ve had our best practices.”