Jan. 9, 2005

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA -- - Junior forward Cara Wright tallied her Atlantic 10 leading fifth double-double of the season as Dayton defeated Saint Joseph's, 78-70 at SJU Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon.

Wright had a career-high 29 points to go along with a game-high 11 rebounds for Dayton (7-7, 2-0 A-10). Wright's previous career best was 19 points against No. 5 Notre Dame on Dec. 9, 2004. She finished 12-of-14 from the field and 5-for-7 from the free throw line.

Wright was one of three Flyers to reach double figures in scoring as senior Emily Williams and sophomore Jennifer Strong added 11 and 10 points respectively.

Overall the Flyers shot 57.4 percent (31-for-54) from the field and made 15-of-21 free throw attempts in the game. The Dayton defense held Saint Joseph's (3-12, 1-2 A-10) to 41.4 percent (24-for-58) shooting on the day.

Dayton took a 41-40 lead into the break after connecting on 17-of-29 shots (58.6%) from the field and 6-of-7 free throw attempts. Wright paced the Flyers with 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the field. She was also made a three of her shots from the charity stripe while collecting five rebounds in 16 minutes.

Nikki Oakland added seven points in the first half as UD dominated the interior. They outscored SJU 26-16 in points in the paint. The Flyers also out rebounded the Hawks, 15-12 and led in second chance points 12-5.

Three Dayton post-players (Wright, Oakland, and Cape) combined to shoot 19-of-24 from the field and score 46 points.

In contrast, Saint Joseph's was 13-for-28 (46.4 %) from the field in the first half and 11-for-12 (91.7 %) from the free throw line. The Hawks also connected on three three-point shots to the Flyers' one. Faith Schutte led SJU with 10 points and four rebounds in the first half.

Wright posted another 10 points in the second half while pulling down six rebounds for the Flyers who connected on 14-of-25 shots from the field in the final 20 minutes.

After the Hawks knotted the score at 43-all just 49 seconds into the second half, UD went on a 6-0 run to build a 49-43 advantage less than two minutes later as Wright made a pair of jumpers and Terri Ramsey added a layup.

SJU would hang with the Flyers and pull to within two at 62-60 with 8:23 remaining, but Dayton would take over from there and build an 11 point lead as the Hawks would be held without a field goal for the next seven minutes.

The Flyers resume Atlantic 10 play Friday at UD Arena as they host George Washington at 7 p.m. The game will be televised in the Dayton area on Time Warner Cable Television.