Growing up, Dayton graduate student guard Nicole Stephens looked up to Ohio State’s Samantha Prahalis and her competitiveness and ability to see the floor.
Prahalis was a 5’7 point guard from New York who wore 21. Stephens went on to be a 5’7 guard from Ohio who played in New York, currently plays in the Buckeye State and wore 21 at both stops because of the player she grew up watching.
From a young age, dribbling came naturally to Stephens, and her basketball IQ was evident. After her freshman year of high school, she worked diligently on her 3-point shot to get it off faster.
She wanted a great academic school for college and connected with Columbia head coach Megan Griffith after their first conversation. Griffith was a 5’6 guard for Columbia from 2003-07, and early on in her recruiting process, Stephens saw that Griffith understood the game at a level she wanted to achieve.
“I’ve always been a part of winning cultures with high school and AAU, so that was something I was looking for in college,” Stephens told The IX Basketball. “And I knew the program she was trying to build and the culture that she was pushing for. And I just wanted to be a part of that, and … taking a program somewhere it had never been before.”
Stephens graduated from high school and started at Columbia in 2020. The Ivy League did not play basketball during the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Stephens played in just seven games her junior year due to injury. She averaged 3.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 61 games over her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
The Ivy League does not allow student-athletes to compete after graduation, so Stephens entered the transfer portal after the 2023-24 season and graduated from Columbia that spring.
Stephens first met Dayton head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter when she was in eighth grade, and she trained with Williams-Jeter’s husband, Richard Jeter, throughout high school. The existing relationship with Williams-Jeter and being closer to home, so her parents could attend more games, made Dayton an appealing choice for her to finish her college career. She also wanted to be part of Williams-Jeter rebuilding the program.
Williams-Jeter had had her eye on Stephens when she was an assistant coach at Penn State, but Stephens was undersized.
“We liked her IQ and her mid-game and her handle and … she’s got a certain swag about her, and we really liked that,” Williams-Jeter told The IX Basketball. “… [I] always loved her game. Her coaches loved her. … They’ve always had really elite point guard play at her high school … and they always won … So these kids were always playing in these stressful spaces.”
When Williams-Jeter and her coaching staff saw Stephens was in the portal, they knew they wanted to land her. The team needed a point guard, and they were looking for someone who had been a part of winning basketball teams and could help lead the team to the next level.
Williams-Jeter believes Stephens has done just that. Last season, Stephens helped Dayton to an 18-13 record, including 11-7 in Atlantic 10 play, while averaging 6.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
The Flyers are 7-5 so far this season, and in the 11 games she’s played, she averaged 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
Stephens’ favorite part of her game is her ability to read defenses and set up her teammates — especially by calling plays. She also takes charges and is one of Dayton’s better defenders in the half-court, according to Williams-Jeter, who said Stephens “will throw her body anywhere to win a game.”
At Columbia, Stephens would sometimes bring the ball up the court off the bench, but when she came to Dayton, she returned to point guard, her natural position. She found balancing facilitating and scoring the most difficult part of her adjustment.
“She will worry about her assist numbers,” Williams-Jeter said. “And I’m like, ‘Man, forget these assists. We know you’re gonna get those. Give me some buckets.’”
After going 1-for-5 from the floor in a loss to George Washington on Dec. 3 and having a discussion about her not looking to score, Stephens made looking for her shot a priority in practice.
Just four days later, she went 4-for-4 from the floor, including three made 3-pointers, against LIU for a then-season-high 12 points. Williams-Jeter credited two second-quarter 3-pointers that she’s not sure Stephens would have shot against GW with helping the Flyers get back into the game.
Stephens was voted captain this season, and her leadership has been crucial for the team this year, especially when it comes to preparation.
Williams-Jeter has seen that this season her players arrive early and do their rehab, crediting Stephens’ leadership and experience for guiding her “very young, talented team.”
Sophomore guard Olivia Leung has also seen how Stephens’ leadership has impacted the team.
“She doesn’t talk much,” Leung told The IX Basketball. “… [She] does what she needs to do to a tee … Her meditating before games, and her making sure her warm-ups are done with intention, kind of just shows that, like, ‘Oh, this is how it’s done. This is how we need to act and what we need to follow.’”
Though the team calls Stephens “Unc,” Leung appreciates the sixth-year’s experience and patience, especially as a lot of players have stepped into new roles this season.
“She just knows how to win,” Leung said. “She’s been on a winning team and [her] just taking us by the hand and just really showing us what it’s like to play at this level has been huge.”
In her three seasons at Columbia, the team never won fewer than 23 games, won the Ivy League regular season title in 2023 and 2024, was the WNIT runner-up in 2023, and made the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
In addition to her basketball IQ and experience, Stephens believes she’s helped shape the team’s mindset this season. She understands that a bad loss can hurt the team’s NET ranking and postseason chances but won’t define the season. One example of growth she’s seen from the team is after falling to Butler on Nov. 28, the team changed its mindset, flipped the page and defeated Kansas the next day.
Leung described Stephens as a Swiss Army knife, because she does whatever the team needs. Stephens’ leadership shines off the court as well, making sure the locker room is clean, ensuring her teammates are in a good space mentally and running through plays with those who don’t understand them.
“She knows what she wants, knows what she needs to do and she really doesn’t make excuses for it,” Leung said. “She’s someone that will never complain, never try to take shortcuts. And I think that’s been a big reason why she’s seen as a leader. And that’s a big reason why she’s had so much success. She just doesn’t ever try to take a shortcut, and she’ll just get it done and do it to her best abilities.”
Stephens’ desire to coach
While she’d love to play overseas, Stephens knows her body won’t be able to hold up. Instead, she plans to go into coaching, though she’s still not sure if she wants to coach at the collegiate or WNBA level.
Stephens interned with the Connecticut Sun over the summer, helping with a variety of responsibilities, including at practice and during individual workouts.
Watching players like Marina Mabrey and Tina Charles and helping them during their workouts helped Stephens understand how they slow down the game, process everything and play with different speeds. She took that back with her to Dayton and has found that playing at a slower pace has helped her see the floor better and allowed things to open up.
In addition to averaging career highs in points (8.1) and assists (3.7) per game this season, her shooting percentages have improved since last year. She also credits her improved shooting to watching film with her younger teammates and understanding what the coaches need from her.
Stephens is shooting 44.9% overall, 48.7% on 2-pointers and 40.0% on 3-pointers, compared to last season’s 38.9% from the floor, 41.7% on 2-pointers and 33.8% on 3-pointers.
She went into her internship wanting to gain insight on how professional basketball worked, how she could improve and what area of basketball she wanted to go into.
Williams-Jeter also saw Stephens’ internship with the Sun increase her desire to learn more. Afterwards, she took an interest in the analytics side of basketball, wanting to see the HD Intelligence (HDI) data the coaching staff used.
Stephens started doing scouts last year, which has continued into this season with the addition of statistics from HDI on Dayton and its upcoming opponents.
Leung and Williams-Jeter both can see Stephens having a long, successful coaching career.
“She has a total basketball mind … [and is a] great on-court coach right now,” Leung said. “And that’ll definitely … help her in the long run because she knows how to connect to us, knows how to really get a message through to players. And I think that obviously shows on the court.”
Stephens sees the hunger for growth in her younger teammates. Watching film with Leung and freshman forward M.G. Talle has helped solidify Stephens’ decision to go into coaching. She enjoys seeing their desire to learn and watching them grow.
Williams-Jeter appreciates what Stephens is doing and has seen Talle ask more questions, crediting Stephens for showing her and others how to prepare to play and how to implement the scout. She also believes Stephens has helped Leung navigate her new role this year.
“She watches so much back film, so teaching them great best practices on how to prepare yourself, ’cause she’s the best at it,” Williams-Jeter said. “How to prepare for the opponent. And then like what do you need to bring in your space to be great?”
Though Leung was intimidated by Stephens at first, their friendship blossomed after Leung asked her to play basketball outside of practice.
“Her kind of investing in me and taking the time to watch film with me or talk about basketball or even just like, help me mentally when … I’ve been struggling has been huge,” Leung said. “She has really taken me under her wing and kinda pushed me to be the player … that I know I can be.”
Williams-Jeter saw an increased desire from Stephens to coach college basketball after working with her teammates.
“That’s what we do. That’s like 80% of … [our jobs] is managing their growth,” Williams-Jeter said. “And then you get to coach basketball. And I think once she saw that … she had a lot to give in that space, being a transfer, playing [at a] high level, coming here, trying to get this thing turned around. …
“She’s been through everything these kids are gonna go through … [transferring], COVID, injury, had to sit out a year, and now these kids are getting paid. So she’s seen it all … So there’s not a conversation she can’t have — even more so than me and my staff, because we didn’t come up in that space. … And her IQ is uncanny, I mean, everybody knows that she’s a high-IQ kid. She’s very smart academically. She can help them pass any class.”
Leadership and building a winning culture
To help her teammates understand that the culture they’re building needs to be consistent every day, Stephens brought one of Griffith’s sayings with her to Dayton: “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
Stephens does everything on the court and in the classroom with everything she’s got. She got hurt in the last regular season game last season against St. Bonaventure, and Williams-Jeter shut down Stephens during the summer to allow her to rest. Stephens still doesn’t take every rep.
“When we shut her down for a day, when she comes back, she’s very intentional, and that’s where the maturity comes in. She’s such a mature kid,” Williams-Jeter said. “She takes care of her body. She meditates before games. Her focus and her reps have to be high-level, ’cause she can’t waste ’em.”
Williams-Jeter believes that Stephens’ work ethic is why, everywhere she’s played, there has been a “jump in success.”
“For me, everything Nicole touches — if it’s silver, it’s gonna turn to gold. If it’s gold, it’s gonna be platinum. If it’s not platinum, it’s gonna be diamonds. She’s a winner,” Williams-Jeter said.
Dayton started conference play with a loss to GW on Dec. 3 and travels to Fairfax, Va., to face George Mason on Dec. 31.
Williams-Jeter thinks Stephens is right where she needs to be, and as the season continues, she wants Stephens to continue to consistently look for her shot. She also wants Stephens to continue to provide leadership and share what she’s learned from her experience on winning teams.
With more than two months left in the season, Stephens wants to lead the team to its first 20-win season under Williams-Jeter and play in a postseason tournament.
Stephens also wants to continue to impact each of her teammates on and off the court. She believes she impacts her teammates by showing up every day, playing hard on every possession and taking everything seriously, from how she eats to treatment to knowing the scout.
The perks of playing close to home and the impact of family
Before the 2024-25 season, Williams-Jeter told The IX Basketball that Stephens would be a crowd favorite. She was right.
“They love Nicole, ’cause she’s itty bitty, she’s taking charges,” Williams-Jeter said. “… She hits timely threes. She’s not highly emotional, but when she gets emotional, they love her.”
Playing closer to home has allowed Stephens’ friends, as well as former coaches and teammates, to come to games. She also played against her former high school teammate Madison Greene, when Vanderbilt came to Dayton last season. Stephens’ parents have only missed one game at Dayton, and it was due to a snowstorm.
She credits her brothers and parents with being influential in her basketball career. Her brothers pushed her by being competitive, playing a range of sports with her and playing with physicality, while her mom was her “backbone to everything.”
Though her dad never played basketball, he coached her youth basketball teams as well as her softball teams. He instilled a “hard-working mindset” as he coached and worked out with her.
“Every day I show up, I’m gonna be the hardest working, I’m gonna go for the 50/50 balls, doing all the small things that kind of do go unnoticed,” Stephens said. “He taught me that. And that’s kind of been my role … being on a lot of great teams. … Being the sixth man at Columbia my senior year, a lot of it was … [defense] and knowing the scout and doing all the small things that people truly don’t see.”
Continued growth as a ‘brain on the court’
If Stephens could give advice to her younger self, it would be to embrace the growth, journey and discomfort that’ll inevitably come. She has had a different role every year of college basketball and knows that to grow, you need to be vulnerable.
Stephens has seen growth in her communication, leadership and consistency in her increased role at Dayton. She’s also more confident in her voice on the court and in her knowledge of the game. Sometimes she’ll even run the team through plays in practice after the coaches are done.
“My coaches trust me so much … sometimes they’ll ask me about scout things or coverages … [and] offensively Coach Meek [Williams-Jeter] lets me call out a good amount of plays throughout the game,” Stephens said. “So having that trust has definitely built a lotta confidence into using my voice and just being confident in my knowledge to expand out to the other girls.”
In addition to looking at personnel and doing scouts, Stephens has also delivered portions of the scout to the team.
“She’s very … [on] it about who’s a shooter, how we close out, and now our team takes on that persona, knowing the offense and talking people through it,” Williams-Jeter said. “… We had a couple players who were struggling early this year, just from a basketball standpoint, not making shots, not making layups, not passing the ball well, not defending well. And you will see her after practice, taking time, walking circles with them.”
Williams-Jeter has seen growth in Stephens in all aspects of her game. She’s seen Stephens’ communication increase, including how much direction she gives and how she’s helped her teammates as she’s moved toward wanting to coach.
“I never really saw her extend herself,” Williams-Jeter said. “She loves her teammates. She hangs out with them, but in a basketball space where I think that she’d be appreciated greatly because of her IQ — she started to use that to her advantage, and to get to know them in that space and get them through tough times.”
Williams-Jeter believes that Stephens extending herself has helped the team move in the right direction.
Though she’s played less than two seasons at Dayton, her teammates and coaching staff have helped her grow her confidence and rediscover her love for the game. She hopes she’s doing the same for them by showing up every day with a smile on her face and having fun.
One of the key parts to finding her joy has been learning that things aren’t as serious as they seem, and losing or not reaching goals doesn’t have to have an impact on her after the fact.
“It can be really draining,” she said. “But I think the coaches also just do a great job of finding that balance of joy and having a life outside of basketball. I think that has also been one of the main things I’ve taken away from Coach Meek, is how she’s able to balance her family, her relationships with the players, but also how she shows up in … basketball.”
Stephens is Williams-Jeter’s first point guard who’s been a “brain on the court.” She lets Stephens run the offense, but Williams-Jeter will call the plays if she’s not in the game. Stephens also helps protect Williams-Jeter’s “blind side” and tells her when the team can take more pressure.
“I come and ask her, ‘Hey, am I on par [and] where I need to be today from a temperament standpoint?’ ‘Yeah, Coach, perfect.’ Or she might say, ‘Turn it up,’” Williams-Jeter said. “… She has to continue to thrive, to be like our fourth assistant coach. That’s what I see out of her, that she’s a scoring fourth assistant coach.”
When Williams-Jeter was a player at UConn, head coach Geno Auriemma would ask her what she thought of specific things and listen to her answers.
“I’ve always wanted to have that moment that Coach [Auriemma] had with us, with a player. And she’s the first player I felt like I could have that moment with,” Williams-Jeter said. “That’s how much I trust her.”
Williams-Jeter has seen the “tremendous impact” Stephens has had on the team’s culture in less than two years.
“She stays ready. She never has to get ready,” Williams-Jeter said. “And she’s a very unique kid. She smiles … if it’s funny, if not, there’s no teeth gonna be shown for a whole day. … She’s got a little … swag to her. She’s a sneaker head, which, if you met her, you would never think that. She has her little tattoos. She’s a little sassy, but [a] very serious person, very intentional. Everything you put out, she absorbs.
“So I think the uniqueness of being who you are is something that she’ll leave. How much she’s helped our culture, not just winning. And how prepared you have to be to take on life. You can see the internships and all the things she’s been doing the last two summers. She has maximized her potential and maximized everything, ’cause she’s always preparing for what’s next.”
Williams-Jeter will be sad when Stephens graduates and enters the professional world, but looks forward to watching what she does next.
“The kid gave me her all,” she said. “It’s been fun to watch her really grow from being a kid. And I can’t wait to send her off, and somebody hire her. She’s gonna be a great coach.”
