Offensive Struggles Sink Flyers In Game Against Northeastern

Michael Crouchley
Contributing Writer

I’m going to be completely honest with you, the Flyers’ offense against Northeastern on Saturday was not pretty.

However, Dayton women’s basketball certainly did show some flashes of brilliance on the day. Junior guard Jayla Scaife’s exploded for a nine-point second quarter, and redshirt junior guard Shakeela Fowler provided some clutch buckets to keep UD in the game late. However, as a whole, the offense just wasn’t clicking.

The numbers do most of the heavy lifting in demonstrating UD’s offensive struggles. The Flyers finished with 14 turnovers, and shot 39.7 percent from the field.

“It can be really tough, especially when our best shooters aren’t really hitting shots,” freshman forward Kyla Whitehead said.

Despite the gaudy numbers, Dayton was able to stay in the game until the end, and there are signs that things will get better.

“We didn’t back down once,” Whitehead said. “We let them come in here and control things, but we didn’t back down.”

The Flyers’ defense made up for many of the offensive shortcomings. They didn’t force many turnovers, but the Dayton defense was challenging shots at the rim. The Huskies finished the day shooting only 35.4 percent from the field.

Dayton also found ways to score, even when shots were not falling. Dayton’s 32 free-throw attempts were one of the main factors keeping them in the game.

“We had to be relentless in the paint on offense and defense,” Whitehead said.

So yes, the Flyers had a tough day on the offensive end, but we shouldn’t expect it to continue. Scaife is always a threat to get a bucket, and redshirt junior forward Julia Chandler continues to be a solid scoring option in the post for Dayton. The Flyer Faithful knows what senior guard Lauren Cannatelli can do from the three-point line, and her early season struggles from behind the arch are definitely a fluke.

Lastly, and most importantly, this team won’t give up.

“We’ll have the best practice of the season after this game,” said Whitehead. “[Head coach Shauna Green] won’t even have to say anything to us because we know what we have to do.”

The Flyers look to bounce back on Wednesday night against Toledo at 7 p.m. at UD Arena.

Photo Courtesy of Griffin Quinn