Feb. 15, 2007

Box Score

KINGSTON, RI - Visiting Dayton used a strong first half performance to secure a crucial 77-65 victory over Rhode Island in Atlantic 10 women's basketball action on Thursday. Following the win, UD moves to 5-6 in conference play entering Saturday's game with Saint Joseph's at UD Arena.

UD led by as many as 18 points in the first half before URI fought its way back to knot the score with 7:43 left to play. However a 14-4 run by the Flyers over the next 3:47 iced the game for Dayton, which snapped a three-game road losing streak.

Senior Jennifer Strong led all players with 18 points on 8-for-18 shooting from the field. Freshman Kendel Ross added a career-high 14 points of her own as UD out shot URI 46.2 percent to 37.9 percent from the field. The Flyers also hit on 14-of-16 free throws on the night while the Rams were just 14-for-23 from the stripe.

Junior Kathy Guin finished with 12 points and six assists while classmate Nikki Oakland added 11 points and 10 rebounds for Dayton, which also held a 44-36 advantage on the boards.

Fellow junior Karah Cloxton dished out a game-high seven assists as the Flyers recorded 21 assists on 30 made field goals on the night.

Despite a brutal travel schedule due to poor weather in the New England area that did not allow the Flyers to reach Rhode Island until 10 hours prior to game time, UD came out with its strongest first half performance of the season.

Dayton made eight straight shots from the field during a stretch of 6:06 in the first half of play. Jennifer Strong started the scoring with two straight buckets to give UD its first lead of the game at the 17:25 mark. Brittany Holterman had six points for the Flyers during the stretch. She was followed by five points from Kathy Guin, four from Strong and two each by Kiki Lund and Kelly Keil as the Flyers went ahead 19-10 with 11:52 remaining in the first half.

UD took a 38-27 lead into the locker room after connecting on 16-of-31 (.516) shots from the field and all five free throw attempts. The Flyer defense held the homestanding Rams to just 29 percent shooting while out rebounding URI 27-11 including a 9-5 edge in offensive rebounds. Dayton had a 20-10 lead at points in the paint and tallied nine assists on its 16 made shots. Jennifer Strong had eight first half points followed by seven each from Nikki Oakland and Kathy Guin. Oakland also pulled down eight boards for the Flyers while Strong had four.

Rhode Island worked its way back into the game in the second half as they forced Dayton into foul trouble and eventually evened the score at 53-53 with 7:43 left to play. However, a fast break layup from Kendel Ross 14 seconds later put UD ahead for good at the 7:29 mark. The freshman followed with two free throws at 5:59 left and another pair of shots from the charity stripe by Cloxton put the Flyers ahead by six at 59-53.

Dayton continued its surge with a trey from the right corner and an off balancer jumper on the right side by Kathy Guin to go ahead by seven. Then a free throw by Kelly Keil and a layup by Jennifer Strong put UD on top by double digits at 67-57 with 3:56 left to play en route to a 77-65 victory.