Dec. 30, 2007

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DAYTON, Ohio - Homestanding Dayton landed a school-record tying 13th consecutive victory on Sunday in taking home the Championship of its own Inaugural Dayton Flyer Classic Presented by Dynamic Pension Services, Inc. The Flyer women defeated Central Michigan, 86-71 to lift their overall record to 13-2.

UD is tied with Arkansas (also in action Sunday) for the longest active winning streak in the nation with 13 straight victories. The Flyers are also tied with the 1985-1986 squad for the most consecutive wins in the program's modern history.

Freshman Kristin Daugherty had another strong second half performance to push UD past CMU on Sunday. The current A-10 Rookie of the Week tallied 14 of her season-high 26 points in the second half for her second 20-point scoring effort in the past three games. She made 9-of-15 shots from the field including 5-of-8 from long range to go along with seven rebounds on the afternoon.

Daugherty was named Tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by fellow Flyers Kendel Ross and Nikki Oakland. Central Michigan was represented by Shonda Long and Stacey Verhoff. Jeomi Maduka also earned All-Tournament honors for Cornell which defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Consolation Game, 66-40.

Oakland had 16 points and nine rebounds in Sunday's Championship Game for Dayton. She was followed by a 10-point, eight rebound effort from Ross off the bench.

The Flyers used solid free throw shooting throughout the day to gain a lead midway through the first half and maintain it throughout the game. UD hit on 17-of-21 (.810) attempts from the charity stripe including 6-of-7 by Oakland.

Dayton also held a 44-34 lead in rebounding as well as 28-7 advantage in bench points and a 26-12 margin in fast break points. UD tallied 20 assists for the second game in a row behind a team-best six from senior point guard Karah Cloxton.

The Flyers finished 9-for-19 from three-point range to extend the Atlantic 10 Conference's longest active streak to 202 consecutive games with a made three-point shot dating back to Jan. 2, 2001. Along with Daugherty's five treys, senior Kiki Lund added three of her own for UD.

Early in the game Central Michigan took the lead with a layup. Dayton quickly returned fire when Nikki Oakland was fouled while shooting. Oakland missed her first foul shot, but drained the second one.

On the next play, Oakland grabbed a defensive rebound off a missed jump shot by CMU's Stacey Verhoff and drove it down for the score giving the Flyers the lead 3-1. The lead would be short lived after two quick buckets by the Chippewas giving them a three point lead 6-3 with 16:34 left in the first half.

UD and CMU traded baskets before Central Michigan's Candace Wilson hit a three-pointer from beyond the arc. Moments later the Chips would hit a second trey in a row when Shonda Long hit one from downtown extending the CMU lead to five, 14-9.

Kristin Daugherty ignited the Flyer offense with a key three-pointer giving the Flyers their second lead of the night, 24-23. The Flyers were in the driver's seat from that point on going on a 19-6 run to end the half, 38-26.

In the second half the Chippewas tried to cut into the UD lead with a trey from Britni Houghton, but the Flyers answered with another trey from Daugherty. Kelly Keil came up with a huge block at the 15:44 mark, which led to a jumper from just inside the arc, 49-32. Lund would then answer her last jumper with a trey to put the Flyers ahead by 20.

On Daugherty's fourth three-pointer, the Flyers took a 22 point lead, their largest of the night. The Chippewas would battle their way back to within nine points of the lead before Kristin Daugherty put the final nail in the coffin with her fifth trey of the night. Dayton commanded the last four minutes of the game, winning 86-71, and marking the second time in UD women's basketball that the Flyers have won 13 games in a row.

The Flyers head to Loretto, PA for a matchup against the St. Francis Red Flash on Wednesday, January 2nd at 7 p.m. ET. There will be NO live stats available for the game on Wednesday.