The Rebounders

A Division I Basketball Journey

University of Nebraska Press

Book release date: March 1, 2018

Division I college basketball wasn’t quite what Amanda Ottaway and her teammates expected it to be.

In The Rebounders: A Division I Basketball Journey, Ottaway walks readers firsthand through the experience of a high-level women’s hoops team, from the recruiting process when they’re teenagers to their bond as college-educated women in their twenties. We experience their highs: big wins, good laughs, team bonding – and their lows: disappointing losses, injuries, fights for playing time, and coaching changes. We watch the Wildcats grapple with issues of body image and the objectification of female athletes, race, academics, sexuality, and coming-of-age as full-time female hoopsters at one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

This Davidson women’s basketball team played in the shadow of what was at the time one of the most famous men’s programs in the nation, led by now-two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry. The Davidson women – tough, smart, funny, insecure – forged their own path outside the spotlight of the Davidson men, all for the love of each other and the game. Through season-ending injuries, rule-breaking, and punishments; through wins, losses, and tragedy, they realize that the most important part of being on a team is taking care of each other.