March 3, 2006

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PHILADELPHIA - Sixth-seeded Dayton snapped a four-year drought with a 71-63 win over 11th-seeded Rhode Island on Friday in the Atlantic 10 Opening Round at SJU Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

After just its fourth win ever in A-10 postseason play, Dayton (17-11) advanced to Saturday's Quarterfinals against #22/20 Temple, the third seed in the A-10 Championships. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET. UD is now 4-10 all-time in 11 A-10 Championship appearances.

The win also gives the Flyers their 17th victory of the season, which is the most since the 1985-86 season and the second most in their Division I history.

A-10 First Team pick Cara Wright led all players with 26 points and 13 rebounds. She connected on 11-of-14 shots from the field to go along with a 4-for-6 performance at the free throw line. The senior forward added four steals, two blocks and two assists.

A-10 Second Team selection Jennifer Strong followed with 13 points including nine in the first half to go along with one blocked shot.

Sophomore point guard Karah Cloxton came off the bench to tally six assists and a steal while classmate Nikki Oakland added seven points, eight rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals.

Rhode Island (8-20) had three players in double figures including Tanya Rhodes with 19 points on the strength of a 13-of-14 effort from the free throw line and 13 rebounds. Safi Mojidi and Erin Cournoyer scored 16 and 10 points respectively.

A majority of the evening's action was spent at the free throw line as Rhode Island made 23-of-29 free throws while Dayton converted on 22-of-32 trips to the line. The teams combined for 54 fouls, which was one shy of an Atlantic 10 Championship single-game record. A total of 61 free throws were attempted in the game, which was five shy of an A-10 Championship all-time high.

Dayton did however play solid defense on the night and held Rhode Island to 32.2 percent shooting from the field while recording the sixth most blocks in A-10 Championship history with seven.

In contrast, the Flyers made 48.9 percent of its shots from the field (23-of-47) and held an advantage in rebounding (37-36) and assists (18-9) as well as bench points (22-6).

Both teams went into the locker room tied at 34-all after a first half that saw Dayton trailing by five points until a Flyer defensive stand held the Rams without a field goal for nearly six and a half minutes to come back from a five-point deficit.

Dayton made 50 percent (10-of-20) of its shots, but was hampered by 12 turnovers in the first half. UD also went to the free throw line 16 times and made 12 to URI's four in the first 20 minutes.

After the break, Dayton built a 45-38 lead on the strength of an 11-4 run over the first seven minutes behind four points each from Wright and Oakland and another three by Lund.

From there, UD scored its next seven points from the charity stripe and were held without a field goal for over seven minutes as URI knotted the score at 54-54.

Wright broke the drought with fast break layup at the 5:49 mark that ignited a 6-0 run for a 60-54 Dayton lead with 4:01 remaining. The Flyer defense held the Rams without a bucket for the final 4:40 and outlasted nine free throws from Rhodes for a 71-63 victory.