Dec. 17, 2005

Box Score

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The duo of Jennifer Strong and Cara Wright combined for 25 first-half points as Dayton beat Long Island 61-46 on Saturday afternoon at the Schwartz Center.

UD (5-2) has now won three straight games for the first time in three seasons while Long Island fell to 2-7 on the season.

After taking a week off for final exams, Dayton had a failing grade through the seven minutes of the game as it missed nine of its first 11 shots. From there Strong and Wright took over as the Flyers made 15 of 16 shots to finish off the half.

"I think we were a bit nervous to start today," UD Head Coach Jim Jabir said. "However, I was proud of how we regained our focus and got the ball in the hands of Jennifer (Strong) and Cara (Wright). I think they are both getting better and will be key for us down the stretch this season."

Wright, the reigning A-10 Player of the Week, finished with her conference leading fourth double-double and her third straight as she scored 16 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.

Strong had her second highest scoring output of the season with a game-high 17 points to go along with three assists.

"I think we played really well today and we improved in many areas," Jabir said. "Today we made a stride towards where we want to go,"

Sophomore Brittany Holterman tallied eight points while classmate Nikki Oakland added seven points and seven rebounds as the Flyers secured their first three-game winning streak since Jan 24-31, 2003.

Dayton returns home to host a pair of games before Christmas at UD Arena. The Flyers take on Tennessee-Martin on Tuesday at 7 p.m. UD then wraps up the week with a 5 p.m. Thursday tipoff against Cincinnati.