UD Women Take On Davidson Tonight in 2025 A-10 Tournament Play
Alex DuFour | Contributing Writer
The University of Dayton, seeded No. 6 in the 2025 Women’s A-10 Tournament, will play Davidson (No. 3) tonight (March 7) for the chance to advance to the semifinals.
UD handily defeated No. 14-seed La Salle in the first round on Wednesday, 60-45, at the tournament at the Henrico Sports & Events Center in Richmond, Virginia.
“Seniors played with a lot of emotion out there. I’m glad we came out on top and now we get to survive and advance,” senior guard Ivy Wolf (14 points, seven rebounds) told Legacy Maker Sports in a postgame interview broadcast via YouTube.
She said she knows the next game, versus Davidson (18-12), who earned a first-round bye, will be physical. How is she approaching the game?
“Have fun,” Wolf said. “Survive and advance, however you get the dub.”
Tonight’s contest tips off at 7:30 on the Peacock network.
The CBS Sports Network picks up the semifinal round and ESPN2 gets the championship game.
Head Coach Tamika Williams-Jeter is continuing to a winning culture and her teams are showing the fruits of her labor. During a panel discussion in December 2024 in a sports ethics class, she talked about how important it is to build a great culture, for her to give her players everything she has, and for them to reciprocate.
This relationship they have built – trust in her and her in them — has translated on the court. Dayton has turned in an 18-12 overall, 11-7 A-10 regular season mark in turning back La Salle (10-23, 3-15), led by seniors Ivy Wolf at guard and Arianna Smith at forward.
Wednesday night, six different Flyers, led by Smith with six points, scored in the first quarter, according to the game recap from UD Athletics. The Explorers hit a three and drew a foul to make it a three-point game at the half, with UD ahead 31-28. The Flyers shot 52 percent in the first half and held La Salle to 36 percent.
In the second half, Dayton ended the third quarter on a 6-0 run despite going four minutes without a field goal. Wolf scored the first basket in the fourth, making it six straight points for her going back to the third. La Salle didn’t get its first points until the 7:19 mark as UD was up by 13.
UD hit only one 3-point jumper for the game while scoring 42 points in the lane. Dayton led by as much as 17 in the final quarter and held the Explorers to 17 points in the entire second half. Mackenzie Dalba led LaSalle with 14 points, seven rebounds.
Smith, grad student Rikki Harris, and freshman Molly O’Riordan scored 10, 11 and 10 points in the win.
Wolf told Legacy Maker Sports she was confident though she and Harris (six rebounds) were in foul trouble with four each.
“Rikki Harris is so great to have on the floor because she’s smart,” Wolf said.
This week, Smith was named Second Team All-A 10 and Wolf was named Third Team in A 10 end-of-season awards for women’s basketball.
“The two of them have been intentional about growing, loyal to the program move forward, and competitive every day,” Williams-Jeter told UD Athletics. “We are so proud to have two of the most elite players in the conference be Flyers.”Smith turned in 13 double-doubles this season, averaging 12.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. She also led the conference in field goal percentage (61 percent), good for ninth in the nation. Smith is seventh in the nation in offensive rebounds per game. Monday, she also earned the final A-10 Player of the Week honors.
Wolf led UD with 15.7 points per game, 72 made threes, and 84.5 percent from the free throw line. The Minster, Ohio native was sixth in the A-10 in scoring, fifth in free throw percentage, and third in threes per game. She played the most minutes for the Flyers (32.8 per game), good for sixth in the A-10. She scored in double figures in 23 of the 29 games this year, and is finishing her career with nearly 1,700 career points.