Jan. 13, 2006

Box Score

PITTSBURGH - Friday the 13th proved to be lucky for the Flyers as visiting Dayton earned its first win in 13 years at the AJ Palumbo Center with a 67-55 victory over Duquesne in Atlantic 10 Conference women's basketball action.

Dayton (11-4, 3-1 A-10) has now won five of its last six games while Duquesne fell to 6-9 overall and 1-3 in conference action.

Senior forward Cara Wright posted her third 20-point effort of the season and her second in three games with 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line. She also had seven rebounds and a career-high six blocks on the night

Junior Jennifer Strong added 10 points and sophomore Brittany Holterman chipped in with nine for the Flyers who took the game on the strength of its best free throw shooting night of the season.

UD hit 23-of-28 shots from the charity stripe and led the Dukes in rebounds (25-17) and points off turnovers (17-2). Dayton made 20-of-25 free throws in the second half alone to account for 20 of its 39 points after halftime.

Senior Terri Ramsey and sophomore Kiki Lund each dished out four assists as Dayton made 43 percent (21-of-49) of its shots from the field to snap a 10-game losing streak at the Palumbo Center.

Dayton opened up a 28-22 lead in the first half behind some strong defense as Duquesne made just a third (8-of-24) of its shots in the first 20 minutes. The Flyers also kept the Dukes off the scoreboard for stretches of 5:04 and 3:44 to come back from an early six-point deficit for a six-point advantage of their own at the intermission.

Strong led UD with six first-half points on 3-for-8 shooting while Wright added five points, four rebounds and two blocks. The Flyers connected on over 40 percent of their shots (12-of-29) while out rebounding the Dukes (19-15) and tallying assists on eight of their 12 field goals in the half.

The Dukes used some hot three-point shooting to take 35-34 at the 11:14 mark of the second half. From there the Flyers used a 6-0 run to build a 40-35 advantage with 9:04 remaining and never looked back. The duo of Holterman and Wright each scored a layup and a free throw during the stretch that propelled Dayton to within one victory of its entire win total for all of last season.

The Flyers return home to face Richmond on Sunday at 2 p.m. on "Free Stuff Sunday" at UD Arena. Dayton's corporate partners have joined together to make this a day of free stuff. At each timeout something new will be given away. All the items are a surprise, so fans should to arrive early so they can get a seat close to the floor. Supplies may be limited! UD Faculty and Staff members will be given a discounted ticket price of $3.