March 24, 2006

DAYTON, Ohio - The Dayton women's basketball team reflected on one of the most successful seasons in school history during its postseason awards banquet held at UD Arena's Boesch Lounge on Friday evening.

UD continued its improvement as a program and had one of the best seasons in school history this year at 17-12 overall. The mark was the first winning record since the 2000-01 season and just the 19th time in Dayton's 29-year history of women's basketball.

Four Individual awards were handed out on Friday night. Sophomore Karah Cloxton won the Team Scholar-Athlete Award. Junior Jennifer Strong was named the Most Improved Player while senior Cara Wright earned the White Allen Most Outstanding Player Award. Seniors Lyndsey DeWitt and Angela Cape shared the Coach's Award.

Karah Cloxton played all 29 games at point guard for the Flyers and averaged 16.3 minutes per game this season. She averaged 2.83 assists per game including 14 games with three assists or more. Her best game of the season came at UD Arena against A-10 Co-Regular Season Champion Charlotte with career-highs of 11 points and 13 assists. The 13 assists were just one shy of the UD single-game record.

Jennifer Strong earned A-10 Second Team honors for her first All-Conference honor after ranking second on the Flyer roster and 18th in the A-10 in scoring at 11.9 ppg. She started all 29 games and leads UD with 72 consecutive starts in a row at the end of the 2005-06 season. Strong scored in double figures during 20 of the final 23 games including a career-best 24 against Xavier on Jan. 19.

Cara Wright was named an Atlantic 10 First Team pick and led the Atlantic 10 Conference with 15 double doubles and was the only player in the conference to average a double double on the year. Wright led the A-10 and ranked 22nd nationally in rebounding at 10.2 per game. She also ranked third in the conference in scoring (16.2 ppg), third in blocks (1.62 bpg) and second in field goal percentage (.520).

Lyndsey DeWitt played in eight games including seven against conference opponents during her senior season. She logged a season-high 17 minutes in the win over Saint Louis at UD Arena. DeWitt scored four points on the strength of 2-for-3 shooting from the free throw line in her final game at UD Arena against Duquesne. She also dished out two assists and collected two rebounds in five minutes played against St. Bonaventure.

Angela Cape started the final 53 games of her career including all 29 during her senior season at center. She averaged 3.6 points per game and 2.0 rebounds per game in just 13.1 minutes per game on the year. Cape scored a season-high 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field against Charlotte. She also tallied seven points in just 13 minutes of play against Cleveland State as well as seven points versus UT-Martin.

UD has been one of the most improved teams in the nation over the past two seasons under the direction of Head Coach Jim Jabir. In his first season with the Flyers, Dayton won just three games. Last year, UD had the fourth best single-season turnaround in the nation with 12 wins overall for a nine-game improvement. The Flyers have won 17 games in 2005-06 and tied for the second best improvement in the NCAA from the 2003-04 season to the 2005-06 campaign.

Dayton's 17-12 regular season record was not only one of the best turnarounds in the nation, but is among the most successful seasons in Flyer women's basketball history. UD hit the 17-win plateau for just the second time in its Division I history and the first time since in 22 years. This season's win total matches the third most wins since the current Flyer seniors were in preschool (1984-85 season). Dayton was also 8-8 in Atlantic 10 regular season games this season, which was one shy of its most ever wins in A-10 play.