Nov. 18, 2005

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DAYTON, Ohio - Senior forward Cara Wright led all scorers with 17 points Friday night at UD Arena as the University of Dayton women's basketball team defeated the Akron Zips in the season opener for the second-straight year. Terri Ramsey finished with nine assists and eight points.

Wright, who was third in the A-10 last season in field goal percentage, was 8-for-11 from the field as UD to lead a balanced Flyer attack. After Wright's 17, Kiki Lund posted nine points while Jennifer Strong and Ramsey each added eight. The Flyers shared the ball all around, with all nine players getting in the scoring column and with 23 assists on their 25 field goals.

"I'm pleased to get the win," said UD head coach Jim Jabir. "We have a lot of things, fixable things, that can be improved upon. Tha comes from the process of learning how to win."

Dayton connected on seven of its first 10 field goal attempts. The Flyers got on the board with a 5-0 lead on a triple by Jennifer Strong and a pull up jumper from Lund. Ramsey, UD's senior point guard, assisted on each of the first five field goals for UD. Amber Peterink and Wright then scored to give the Flyers a 13-5 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first.

Karah Cloxton nailed a pull-up J from the top of the key as UD took a 20-6 lead. After the two teams traded buckets, Ashley Armstrong knocked down a three with 4:35 left in the first for a 28-13 lead.

Akron went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to nine before Wright answered with a turnaround basket and the Flyers took a 30-19 lead into the break.

Wright led the Flyers at the break with eight points on four-of-six shooting.

In the second half, Dayton opened with two baskets inside from Wright and Lund's three pushed the lead back out to 14 at 37-23. After two more baskets by Dayton, The Zips went on a 13-6 run over the next five minutes to pull within seven at 43-36.

But the Flyers rattled off six straight points, including a transition deuce from Wright. Angela Cape's hook shot from the paint put UD up by 11 at 54-43 with 5:27 to go.

Akron cut the lead to five on a three by Marco with 2:25 remaining, 57-52, and after a steal and lay-up, the Zips pulled within three. But Dayton countered out of a timeout with a basket inside from Nikki Oakland - her first points of the night - with 1:37 left. Dayton stopped Akron on three-straight trips down the court, and Lund hit a pair of free throws to bump the lead to 61-54 and UD came away with a fourth stop as time ran out.

Courtney Stewart and Niki McCoy each scored 12 points for Akron, and McCoy was the Zips leading rebounder with nine.

Wright's six boards led UD, which owned a 35-33 edge on the glass. Peterink, Oakland and Armstrong each chipped in five rebounds.

Last season, Dayton won 66-56 in Akron to open the season, behind a double-double from Wright. The Flyers are now 5-1 all-time versus the Zips.

The Flyers will travel to Chicago for two games next week. On Monday, Dayton visits Chicago State in an 8:00 p.m. ET tip-off. On Tuesday, the Flyers remain in the Windy City for a match-up with Loyola at 8:00 p.m. ET.