Flyers women’s basketball officially A10 regular season champions with 72-66 win over Davidson in regular season finale
Redshirt senior guard Jenna Giacone (#12 with ball, pictured from 64-58 win over Davidson at UD Arena Jan. 14) led the Flyers with 19 points (9-10 from the free throw line) in a 72-66 win over Davidson. Photo courtesy of Christian Cubacub, Flyer News.
Peter Burtnett
Sports Editor
The Dayton Flyers women’s basketball team closed the regular season with a 72-66 road win at Davidson Sunday, improving to 13-2 overall and 12-1 in Atlantic 10 play.
With the win, the Flyers also clinch being A10 regular season champions for the second straight season, and gives head coach Shauna Green her 100th win at UD.
In a back-and-forth first half, the Wildcats got a non-traditional jumper to go (described as like a soccer throw-in by ESPN+ broadcasters) as the buzzer sounded to go into halftime leading 35-32.
The Flyers quickly responded out of the break, going on an 18-4 run before the under-5 media timeout, now holding a 50-39 lead with 4:18 remaining in the third quarter.
However, the Wildcats then went on their own run, 12-0, to cut the deficit to one at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the teams exchanged shots for the first three minutes, but with the game tied at 57, went the next three minutes without scoring at all, until a pair of free throws by redshirt senior guard Jenna Giacone gave the Flyers a 59-57 lead with 3:40 remaining in the game.
The Wildcats hung around for the next three minutes, getting back within one point again before a 6-1 Flyers run pushed the lead to 66-60 with 37 seconds left.
The Wildcats once again threatened with a three to cut the deficit in half 10 seconds later, but Giacone made her eighth and ninth free throws of the game to push the lead back up to five.
The Flyers were then able to see out the rest of the game, 72-66, and now go into the A10 Tournament with a double-bye and the No. 1 overall seed, finishing with a 12-1 record in-conference and 13-2 overall.
https://twitter.com/DaytonWBB/status/1366119718596317184
As of 3:15 p.m. Sunday, the Flyers would face the winner of the 8/9 match-up between Duquesne and La Salle on Friday, March 12 at 11 a.m.
For more sports news like Flyer News on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@FlyerNews & @FlyerNewsSports) and Instagram (@flyernews)