Now in her 14th season, the career leader in victories on the court, she is just as proud of the accomplishments of her players off-the-court and after-the-court.

In July 1996 Phayre came to this campus with a plan in mind to change the history of Assumption College women's basketball. The Hounds had always been a team always on the verge of something good . . . they had a host of outstanding individual performers . . . it was time to take it to the next level . . . a playoff level.

Now, it's 212 wins later with 21 conference all-star selections, four academic all-district players, three academic all-America, one conference player-of-the-year (Katelyn Dwyer), one conference freshman of the year (Charde Floyd), one conference student-athlete-of-the-year (Stacy Mattioli) and 14 of the top 25 scorers in Hounds' history. And, the Greyhounds are a regular visitor to the national poll.

The Greyhounds defeated Merrimack College, 58-54, on November 19 to improve their record to 3-0 overall. The victory gave Coach Phayre her 200th win as head coach of the Greyhounds. She is the second coach of a women's sport at the College to reach that magic mark.

Her teams have been a model of consistency, advancing to 12 straight Northeast-10 Conference playoffs, three N.C.A.A. regionals, and finishing second twice in the most competitive Division II conference in the nation. The Hounds won a team-record 22 games in 2007-08 . . . her fourth 20-win season and the team has played to a .608 percentage (159-103) over the last nine years!

She knows how to motivate . . . motivating young female student-athletes to make a commitment to many things . . . at ages 19-22 that is not always easy . . . a commitment to winning . . . a commitment to being the best possible person, student and athlete all wrapped up in one tidy, and sometimes all-too-perfect, package . . .

Winning is the priority . . . a mind set that has to be in place 24-7 . . . 24 hours a day, seven days a week . . . winning is habit forming . . . yes, there are parameters set forth . . . like the team grade point average perennially over 3.00 (every year of her Assumption College tenure!) . . . like the team commitment to the community . . . in volunteer programs. Phayre prepped in previous Division I coaching assignments at Columbia, Boston College, St. John's and Vermont.

One of Rhode Island's outstanding female players while at Saint Xavier in Providence, she led her team to three state titles. She finished her career with 1,174 points and an incredible 76-4 overall won-loss mark and was all-state twice.

She began her collegiate career at Southern Connecticut (1979-80) and and finished at Providence. As a standout point for the Friars, Phayre scored 1,269 points with 432 assists and twice served as team captain. She was a finalist for the Margaret Wade Trophy (1982), the nation's Player-of-the-Year, and was a Kodak all America and her team won (66-27).

She has set a new standard of excellence on Salisbury Street. The Hounds are now used to winning . . . used to playing unyielding, sometimes annoying, defense over 94 feet and playing with relentless attitude for 40 minutes. If you get behind a Phayre-coached team, the road back is nearly impossible . . . if you get ahead, plan on playing for 40 minutes as the Hounds will make a run that'll last until the final buzzer.

A native of Cranston, RI, Phayre is a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (W.B.C.A.) and is one of the leading clinicians in the Northeast. She was inducted in the fall of 2006 into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and resides in Worcester.

THE PHAYRE RECORD

Year W L Pct

1996-97 13 14 .458

1997-98 14 14 .500

1998-99 13 14 .458

1999-00 20 09 .690

2000-01 18 10 .643

2001-02 20 09 .690

2002-03 14 15 .483

2003-04 21 09 .700

2004-05 13 15 .464

2005-06 16 13 .552

2006-07 13 16 .448

2007-08 22 10 .688

2008-09 15-13 .536

Overall 212 161 .568