Women’s Basketball Recap: Crowd Rocks As Flyers Defeat Duquesne For A-10’s Top Spot
More than 3,000 fans came out to UD Arena Wednesday night to watch the Dayton women’s basketball team knock off Duquesne 79-70. The win was UD’s 11th in a row, and improves their Atlantic 10 Conference record to 10-0. The Dukes, who were previously undefeated in the A-10 as well, fall to 8-1 in conference.
A Hot Start
The Flyers came out on fire from the floor, starting the game on an 8-0 run and a 20-9 lead after the first quarter.
“Defend, rebound, run,” senior guard JaVonna Layfield explained of the bread-and-butter pre-game strategy of the team.
“Come out and put it on them from the start. Don’t let them have any hope, feel any breath, and I think that’s what we did. We came out and played Dayton basketball from the jump.”
Layfield led the way for the Flyers in the first half, recording 14 points and 10 rebounds for an early double-double. The Flyers’ 41-27 halftime lead was in large part due to the game on the glass. They out-rebounded Duquesne 23-15 in the first half, and 9-3 on the offensive end.
“We really talked about coming out strong and making a strong start, and coming out really, really aggressive and in attack mode,” coach Shauna Green said after the game. “Everything was about defense and getting stops.”
Dayton’s Defense
On the defensive end, Dayton stifled Duquesne. The Dukes shot just 29 percent in the first quarter, and their season’s top scorer junior guard Chassidy Omogrosso (16.8 ppg) was held ineffective. Omogrosso managed just three points (1-4) in the first half.
“Everything that we did, we would switch off,” Green said of the strategy to slow the guard’s play.
“Any screen we’d switch, so I think that really kind of took her out of her rhythm. And she didn’t get free on a lot of the ball screens because we were switching.”
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The Final Fight
An outside shooting barrage that had propelled the Flyers to a stellar first half had fallen cold midway through the second. Dayton managed just two points over the first five-plus minutes of the fourth quarter, and Duquesne had trimmed their deficit to eight.
Dayton shot just 22 percent from the field in the fourth quarter, while Duquesne hit 41 percent.
“We were sloppy. We got to clean that up, late game stuff,” Green said. “But at the end of the day, get it to Jenna and have her make a play.”
Senior guard Jenna Burdette, who managed just four points in the first half, took charge in the fourth quarter and got to the free-throw line eight times. Her perfect 10-for-10 shooting from the line for the game helped cement Dayton’s victory.
Rocking Red Scare
Wednesday’s attendance of 3,223 surpassed Dayton’s season average by about 1,000 fans, and was their best-attended game of the season other than the annual School Day.
“There was a lot of buzz about the game, so we knew it was going to be a special atmosphere,” Green said.
“And they didn’t disappoint. They were loud, they were into it, and it was definitely a huge advantage to us.”
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What’s next?
Dayton now leads the A-10 by a full game and a half over Duquesne. At 10-0, the Flyers stay home to play VCU Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Photos Taken by Roberto De La Rosa-Finch/Online Editor