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On and off the court, Justine Raterman is making a significant contribution at the University of Dayton.

The sophomore forward from tiny Versailles, Ohio, is leading the much-improved Flyers in scoring for the second straight year. Dayton was 14-3 heading into their Wednesday road showdown with St. Joseph's and Saturday home contest against Richmond.

Freshmen players that lead their team in scoring and rebounding in men's college basketball often head to NBA riches the next season. That is far from the case for Raterman, who happens to be a math education major hoping to teach high school algebra.

A year ago, Raterman was one of seven freshmen on the Dayton roster that surprised the conference when it upset top-seeded Xavier in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic-10 conference tournament. She finished the year starting 34 of the 35 games, averaging a team-best 13.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per contest.

"I honestly did not really know what to expect going into last year being so young," the 6'1" star said about being named A-10 Rookie of the Year last season. "I just went out, played and did not really think about the statistics."

It was an impressive beginning for Raterman, who the Dayton Daily News named to the Ohio Division III first-team in all four of her high school years. Growing up in a small town of only 2,500 people, there would have been many ways for her to feel overwhelmed by the new big city experience.

"In Versailles, everyone knows everyone and they all know everything about you," Raterman said. "There is a sense of pride about your family and about your community."

That pride and down-to-earth attitude immediately earned her the praise of her teammates, according to both her roommate and her head coach. Fellow sophomore Casey Nance, who is leading the team in rebounding this season, called Raterman "comforting, dedicated, caring and hard-working."

"She could have been a captain this year because she is really well admired and respected," seventh year head coach Jim Jabir said. "All the kids in her grade and even the older kids gravitate toward her even though she is not really loud or boisterous."

Loud or boisterous would certainly be the opposite of the common math stereotypes, especially for one that gets a kick out of upper-level classes such as linear algebra this semester. In fact, there are only 14 adolescent to young adult education and mathematics dual-majors at UD, according to the 2009 school fact book.

An admitted big fan of the many statistics behind the game of basketball, Raterman's math-oriented mind is obvious to Nance, too.

"She is a low-key nerd like a little bit, and I could definitely see that in her," Nance said.

Coach Jabir continued to pour on the kind words about his sophomore forward, who is fourth in the A-10 in field goal percentage, shooting 54.4 percent this season.

"She is very humble and she cares a great deal about being the best she can be and nobody knows about how good that can be, and neither can she," he said. "She just wants to compete."

When asked about how much Raterman means to this team, Nance was at a loss for words to describe her overall impact.

"You cannot place a value on it, and even if she was not playing, her value off the court would be something that cannot be quantified," she said.

Raterman remains one of just seven players in the entire conference to average at least 12 points and six rebounds per game this season. Given her continued production at such a high level, it seems to be only a matter of time before the sophomore finds her name as a candidate for the most outstanding player in the A-10.

"Yeah, last year she was the Rookie of the Year, and that means out of every freshman in the conference, she was the best one," Jabir said. "If she continues to improve and get better, absolutely she can do it."