Feb. 25, 2007

Box Score

RICHMOND, VA - Dayton could not hold on to a five-point halftime lead and fell at Richmond, 66-63 on Sunday. UD drops to 11-18 overall and 6-8 in A-10 play with its 13th single-digit loss this season.

The Flyers will open play at the 2007 Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship on Friday at Noon ET as the ninth seed. UD will face eighth seeded La Salle at the Cintas Center on the campus of Xavier University. The Flyers beat the Explorers, 59-57, on Feb. 8 at UD Arena. Click here for a complete A-10 Championship Bracket.

Senior Jennifer Strong led all players with 15 points on 6-for-17 shooting from the field. Junior Nikki Oakland added 13 points, nine rebounds and two steals as UD out shot UR 42.3 percent to 38.3 percent from the field overall.

The Flyers turned 16 Spider turnovers into 14 points, but were hampered by 20 mistakes of its own. UR also held advantages at points in the paint (24-20), offensive rebounds (14-8) and second chance points (14-9).

Dayton connected on 7-of-18 shots from beyond the arc including a 3-for-5 effort by junior Kiki Lund in the first half for nine points.

Classmate Karah Cloxton also had nine points and a game-high five assists to go along with four rebounds off the bench.

Fellow junior Brittany Holterman and freshman Kelly Keil each tallied seven points for the Flyers. Holterman added nine rebounds including four on the offensive end of the court while Keil pulled down three boards.

Dayton took a 30-25 lead into the locker room after a first half that featured three tied scores and six lead changes. The Flyers led by as many as seven at one point as they connected on 12-of-25 (.480) shots from the field in the first 20 minutes of play. UD also hit on 4-of-9 three-point attempts as Kiki Lund led the charge with three treys for nine points.

The Flyers stretched their lead back to seven at 32-25 on a jumper in the paint by Nikki Oakland in the first 16 seconds of the second half. From there, Richmond slowly worked its way back into the contest and eventually knotted the score at 47-all at the 9:57 mark off a layup from Kara Powell.

Then with the score tied at 53-53 with 6:46 left, the Spiders began to hit their stride as they scored on three of their next four possessions to build a 59-53 advantage with 4:58 on the clock. Kelly Keil tried to bring Dayton back into the game with a pair of free throws and a trey from the top of the key with 3:28 left, but DeUnna Hendrix took over on her Senior Day with a layup and free throw at the 3:13 mark to give UR another six-point advantage at 64-58.

Richmond's defense made things difficult for Dayton over the final three minutes of the game as Dayton made just two of its final eight shots from the field before falling 66-63 on the final day of the regular season.