UD Women’s Basketball Builds Momentum Entering Conference Schedule

This story was originally published in the Flyer News 2025-26 Basketball Digital Edition

Gabriel Ward | Sports Editor

DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton women's basketball team enters winter break with a 7-5 record in year four under Head Coach Tamika Williams-Jeter. With the Atlantic 10 season picking back up for UD, the Flyers have shown that they are capable of playing with the best. 

Dayton entered this year with continued momentum from the foundation that Williams-Jeter has built. Since her first season at the helm, the Flyers have increased their win total every single season and look to continue that streak this season. 

In the non-conference, the Flyers picked up some marquee wins, including defeating rival Xavier 71-66 in Cincinnati as well as taking down Kansas 59-58 at the Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Fla. 

Despite the wins over power conference opponents, the Flyers slipped up in their first conference game of the season as they fell to reigning Atlantic 10 Tournament champion George Washington 54-42 in Washington, D.C. 

The Flyers are led by senior guard Nayo Lear. Lear is the team's leading scorer, averaging 16.7 points per game while also dishing out 2.1 assists and grabbing 2.9 rebounds per game. In the Flyers' loss to George Washington, Lear played 30 minutes; however, she was unable to score, going 0-3 from the field. Lear would not allow that performance to become the new normal, as after that performance, she would go on to score 24, 17 and 27 points against Long Island, Western Michigan and Evansville, respectively. 

On the defensive side of the ball, the Flyers' Fatima Ibrahim controls the paint. Ibrahim, a junior center in her first season at UD after transferring from North Dakota, was last season's Summit League Defensive Player of the Year and already has 27 blocks in 12 games for the Flyers. As well as her defensive performance, she is also currently the team's leading rebounder, with 7.2 rebounds a game, which has her tied for fifth in the entire Atlantic 10. 

For the Flyers, their season will be defined by how they perform in both Atlantic 10 regular-season play and the conference tournament. UD has not won a conference regular-season title since 2022, which was its fifth in six seasons. In that season, the Flyers received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as an 11 seed, where they would defeat DePaul in the First Four before falling to Georgia in the first round. The last time the Flyers won the conference tournament was 2020; that season, would not have an NCAA Tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As conference play resumes, the key for the Flyers will be their consistency. Lear and Ibrahim provide excellent scoring and defense for UD, but the entire roster needs to be able to contribute every game for the Flyers to have sustained success this season. The George Washington loss was an early taste of what conference play will be like. If the Flyers are able to perform their best throughout the rest of the season, they will put themselves in a position to regain their place at the top of the Atlantic 10.