Women’s Basketball Recap: Cannatelli’s Hot Hand Helps Dayton To Victory Over Mason

Steve Miller
Sports Editor

In the home finale for Dayton’s three seniors, it was junior guard Lauren Cannatelli who led the women’s basketball team to a 71-66 win Wednesday night.

Cannatelli At The One

Cannatelli scored 20 points, playing all 40 minutes after senior point guard Jenna Burdette sat for 12 minutes of the game with foul trouble.

“She did a great job and ran the team and still managed to score I think 20 points, while also running the point,” coach Shauna Green said after the game. “We don’t want Jenna to have two fouls that early, but it was good.”

“[Lauren has] developed into an unbelievable player and not just a shooter.”

“I came in and I made the first one so, I just felt good,” Cannatelli said, who scored six of Dayton’s first eight points.
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“But my coaches have been having a lot of confidence in me the past couple days, just shooting well.”

“Lauren really stepped up tonight,” attributed Burdette.

“She had to play the point guard and she doesn’t get to play that much. So having her on the ball and not off the ball where she can score can [make] a little adversity for us. But I think we handled it well.”

David Wants It More Than Goliath

Although Cannatelli’s shooting boosted the offensive, Dayton’s game on the glass was equally crucial.

Along with senior guard JaVonna Layfield’s 18 rebounds, senior forward Alex Harris grabbed 12, and sophomores Jayla Scaife and Jordan Wilmoth each had 4. Together, the Flyers out-rebounded Mason 48-44. The Flyers needed that post production given the opposition.

The Patriots’ 6-foot-5 center Natalie Butler recorded her 28th consecutive double-double (16 points 24 rebounds) to further improve on her nation-leading statistic of 18 rebounds per game. But it was for naught with Dayton’s limiting defense.

“She had 16 points and she averages 18 so I thought we did a really good job,” Green said of the opponents’ center.

“She has 24 boards, that’s fine, she’s not finishing those into a lot of points. And we outrebounded them.”

Butler was just six-for-17 shooting from the floor and was even out-rebounded at times by Dayton’s smaller players, who just crashed harder.
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Layfield, who stands at a comparatively mere 5 feet 11 inches, grabbed several of her 18 boards with Butler contesting.

“That’s crazy, that’s just heart,” said Green of her guard, whose 12.9 rebounds per game is good for fourth nationally in Division I basketball.

What Layfield did in practice Wednesday night was exactly what had been preached in theory leading up to the game.

“We kept always saying that we’ll have five on the boards every time on the defensive end,” Burdette said. “Everything [Butler] got she had to be tough and [she] had to work. And I think we did a decent job of that.”

Spreading The Wealth

What was Dayton’s apparent weakness on the defensive end — the lack of a post player to match up with Butler — turned into their strength on offense.

The Flyers finished with four players in double-digit points, avoiding Butler’s presence altogether with outside shots. Scaife finished with 15 points, Layfield, 14, and Burdette, 12, to complement Cannatelli’s 20.

“I don’t think it was our best offensive production night, but we still manufactured four people in double figures,” Green said. “And we’re not deep in terms of numbers…but we’re deep in terms of production, and that’s really the staple of Dayton basketball.”

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“We’ve never been a team that has one person scoring 30 points. We’ve been a team that has multiple people that can hurt you on any night and you gotta worry about all five on the floor that are capable scorers.”

Burdette furthered the thought.

“Most teams just have one or two scorers and we average four in double figures,” she said. “That’s just really important for our team and our culture.”

What’s next?

With the win, Dayton improves to 22-4 overall and 15-0 in the Atlantic 10. The Flyers have now won 16 consecutive games, which is tied for the second-best win streak in team history. They will close out the regular season at Saint Louis Saturday.

Photo Taken By Roberto De La Rosa-Finch/Online Editor