Women’s Basketball Adds Two More For 2009-10

Abby Dowd and Nytor Longar have both signed National Letters of Intent

Abby Dowd

BUFFALO, NY – Abby Dowd (Tipp City, OH/Tippecanoe) and Nytor Longar (Rochester, MN/John Marshall) have both signed National Letters of Intent and will join the UB women’s basketball team for 2009-10, according to head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald.

Dowd, a 5’9” point guard, led her team to a 25-1 record and a final ranking of first in the state. She also led the team to the District Championship, two Sectional Championships, and three conference championships. In her senior season alone, Dowd averaged 14.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 4.1 steals per game, while shooting nearly 56.0 percent from the floor, including 51.3 percent from behind the arc.

Following her senior season, Dowd picked up numerous personal accolades including first-team All-State in Division 2, Conference Player of the Year, first-team All-District, Southwest Ohio District Player of the Year and the Dayton Daily News voted her Division 2 Player of the Year and a member of the All-Area First team. She has also been named first-team All-Conference in each of the last three seasons. Dowd’s athletic ability is not limited to basketball as she also led Tippecanoe’s volleyball team to a 26-1 record as a senior and a final number one ranking in the state. During her senior season, Dowd was a second-team All-State and first-team All-Conference and All-District selection in volleyball.

“We are very fortunate that Abby was still around at this point in the recruiting process,” said Hill-MacDonald. “She has great leadership and is very poised and confident running the point. She is a very high energy person and she brings that energy with her everyday to the basketball court.”

Nytor Longar

Longar is a 6’3” post player and comes from a family with an impressive basketball background. Her brother Longar Longar finished up a four-year career at Oklahoma in 2007-08. Longar averaged 13.6 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game during her senior season and finished her career at John Marshall with 940 points, 791 rebounds and 228 blocked shots. She has been All-Conference for the last three years and led John Marshall to two Big 9 Conference titles including a 45-9 Big 9 record over the last three seasons. Longar led the Rockets to the 2008-09 state tournament scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds in a loss to Eden Prairie.

Longar has only been playing basketball since the seventh grade and was born in Waw, Sudan. She moved to Egypt in 1995 and then Chicago in 1998 before settling in Rochester, MN in 1999. In addition to her brother that played at Oklahoma, Longar has five other brothers and four sisters.

“Nytor is a very mobile post player with a tremendous upside,” said Hill-MacDonald. “Once we work on refining her skills a little and get her stronger, she is going to be a dangerous presence down low. She will be a great compliment to Kourtney Brown.”

Dowd and Longar bring UB’s 2009-10 class to four with the signings of Nicki Hopkins (Bath, OH/Bath) and Amy Gardner (Medina, OH/Walsh Jesuit) back in November.