March 5, 2009

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DAYTON, Ohio - The eighth-seeded University of Dayton women's basketball team will take on the ninth-seeded Saint Louis Billikens in the first round match-up of the Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship on Friday at noon ET. This year's Championship will be held on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Halton Arena.

Fans can follow UD throughout the A-10 Championship with Gametracker at www.DaytonFlyers.com. Live Video is also available via pay-per-view at www.Atlantic10.org.

Nine-time Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week Justine Raterman was named the league's Rookie of the Year on Wednesday to headline a group of three honorees from UD. She was also named to the Honorable Mention Team.

Raterman is easily having one of the best seasons of any Flyer freshman in over a decade. The Flyer rookie leads UD in scoring (13.0 ppg), rebounding (8.6 rpg), steals (1.0 spg), three-point field goal percentage (.729), and has tallied a team-high seven double-doubles this season.

Casey Nance and Kristin Daugherty were also honored by the Atlantic 10. Nance was named to the All-Rookie Team and Daugherty earned Third Team honors. Nance leads the Atlantic 10 in blocks per game (1.8). She is averaging 6.8 ppg and 6.8 rpg and has scored in double figures eight times and posted two double-doubles this season.

Daugherty is averaging 12.9 points per game to rank 10th in scoring in the Atlantic 10. Daugherty is the team-leader in minutes played (32.6 mpg). She is second on the team in scoring and third on the team in assists (2.4 apg), fourth in blocks (0.3 bpg), steals (0.6 spg), and rebounding (5.0 rpg).

Coming off last year's 25-9 campaign, Coach Jim Jabir has used a young core of talented underclassmen to come through with UD's second-straight winning season. The Flyers finished the regular season 18-12 overall and 7-7 in league play. The Flyers 18-12 record is the second-best in modern program history.

SCOUTING SAINT LOUIS
Ninth-seeded Saint Louis finished the regular season 12-17 and 6-8 in the Atlantic 10. The team is led by the conference's leading scorer and First Team selection Theresa Lisch who leads the league with two 30+ and fifteen 20+ point scoring games. Lisch is averaging 19.6 points per game and ranks 16th nationally in scoring. She is 24th nationally in three-point field goal percentage (41 percent).

As a team, SLU is second in the Atlantic 10 in 3-point percentage, connecting at a 35.7-percent clip (104-of-291). Lisch is fourth in the league in 3-pointers per game (2.0).

The Billikens are coached by Shimmy Gray-Miller who is in her fourth season at the helm. She owns a 42-74 record in four years as head coach.

SERIES STUFF
Dayton leads the series 15-6 and has won the last five-straight meetings. The Flyers opened the Atlantic 10 portion of the season with the Billikens on Jan. 10, 2009. UD defeated SLU, 73-68 on the road.

NEXT UP
The winner of the Dayton/Saint Louis game will advance to the quarterfinal round of the 2009 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship to face the no. 1 seeded and nationally-ranked Xavier Musketeers. The game is scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 7 at noon ET. Fans can follow the action with live stats at www.DaytonFlyers.com and with video streaming at www.Atlantic10.org.