Dec. 30, 2006

Box Score

HANOVER, N.H. - Dayton drilled a school-record tying 12 three-point baskets, but fell to host Dartmouth, 76-71 in the Consolation Game of the 2006 Blue Sky Classic on Saturday evening. The loss was the seventh straight for the Flyers (4-10) by eight points or less.

The Flyers connected on 12-of-22 (.545) shots from beyond the arc to match the all-time best mark by a Dayton team in a single game. UD also made 12 treys on Nov. 27, 1994 against Duquesne and Jan. 7, 2003 versus Xavier. Dayton has now made at least one three point shot in 172 consecutive games dating back to Jan. 2, 2001, a streak that is the longest of any school in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The 12 three-point baskets on Saturday night were the most ever in the 30-year history of the Blue Sky Classic. UD finished with 18 three-point shots on the weekend, which also broke the tournament record for the Blue Sky Classic.

Junior Nikki Oakland was 7-of-12 to score 17 points in the paint for the Flyers. She added four rebounds and two blocks to earn All-Tournament honors and help Dayton hold a 35-30 lead in rebounding. Brittany Holterman led all players with nine boards including four on the offensive glass as the Flyers had a 16-4 lead in second chance points.

Classmate Kiki Lund was 4-for-6 from three-point range to finish with a season-high 15 points. Fellow junior Karah Cloxton was 3-for-5 from long range to score nine points.

Senior Jennifer Strong and junior Ashley Armstrong had two treys each to finish with eight and six points respectively. Strong moved into 15th place on the all-time scoring list at UD with 1,014 career points.

Freshman Kendel Ross returned to the lineup after missing Friday's game with flu like symptoms. She finished with six points, three rebounds, two blocks and an assist in just 12 minutes of action.

Dayton dished out 17 assists on its 25 baskets including four by Kathy Guin and three each from Cloxton and Holterman.

Dartmouth had five players reach double figures in scoring led by 16 points from Ashley Taylor. Koren Schram and Darcy Rose each had 14 while Fatima Kamara finished with 12 and Kristen Craft added 10 for the Big Green.

Both teams played a tight game for the first seven minutes until Kiki Lund led Dayton on a 7-0 run with three baskets in a span of just 63 seconds. A pair of three-pointers and a jumper on the wing gave the Flyers a 25-17 lead with 9:45 left in the first half.

Dartmouth stormed back with a 14-0 run of its own over the next 5:56 with two baskets from Sydney Scott and a pair of treys by Koren Schram. Kristen Craft added two buckets of her own as the Big Green pulled out to a 31-25 lead with 3:49 remaining before halftime.

The Flyers stopped the streak with another three-pointer from Jennifer Strong at the 2:21 mark followed by a long jumper from Brittany Holterman as they made their way into the locker room down by five at 35-30.

Dayton was lethal from long range in the first half as they connected on 6-of-13 (.462) shots from three-point range. The duo of Kiki Lund and Karah Cloxton came off the bench to hit two each while Jennifer Strong and Ashley Armstrong each drained one for the Flyers. Dayton also held a 20-15 edge in rebounding and a 4-0 lead in blocks.

Lund led all players with eight points in the first half for the Flyers while Koren Schram and Kristen Craft matched her is scoring for the Big Green. Cloxton also had six points while Brittany Holterman pulled down six rebounds for Dayton.

Dartmouth surged out to a 49-32 lead just four minutes into the second half behind five points from Ashley Taylor as well as four each by Darcy Rose and Fatima Kamara. From there began to heat up offensively with treys from Jennifer Strong and Amber Peterink and pulled to within 10 at 51-41 with 13:40 left.

Then with the Flyers down 58-41 Kiki Lund went on another tear as she hit back-to-back treys and another free throw to bring Dayton within 12 at the 8:59 mark. The second three-point shot from Lund was the 10th of the game for UD.

Karah Cloxton followed with another shot from downtown at the 7:01 mark, which broke the all-time record in the 30-year history of the Blue Sky Classic and made it a 64-53 margin.

Kendel Ross followed with a layup off a feed from Ashley Armstrong 65 seconds later. Armstrong then drilled Dayton's 12th three-point shot of the game, which matched the UD single-game high and pulled the Flyers to within eight at 66-58 with 5:18 left.

From there the combination of Ross and Nikki Oakland pulled Dayton as close as one at 69-68 with 2:05 left, but the Big Green converted 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to hold on as homestanding Dartmouth secured a 76-71 victory.

The Flyers close out the non-conference portion of their schedule at UD Arena on Wed., Jan. 3. Dayton will face St. Francis (PA) at 7 p.m. ET in a game that can be followed with FREE live video and audio as well as Gametracker at www.DaytonFlyers.com.

2006 Blue Sky Classic All-Tournament Team

Nikki Oakland, Dayton

Katie Meinhardt, Boston University

Koren Schram, Dartmouth

Ashley Taylor, Dartmouth

Abby Waner, Duke

MVP: Lindsey Harding, Duke