Women’s Basketball Upset By Quinnipiac in Opener

By: Brendan Zdunek – Staff Writer

It was a tough start to the season for the Dayton women’s basketball team on Sunday as they lost a close game to the Quinnipiac Bobcats, 63-60. The Flyers turned the ball over 20 times in the game–the same number of field goals made.

UD started off well both offensively and defensively. They scored 12 points in the first three and a half minutes of the game and only allowed the Bobcats to score four points in that time.

However, after that 12-point run, the team went ice-cold and could not muster any offense for the rest of the first quarter. Due to that funk and a number of turnovers by the Flyers, Quinnipiac was able to come back from an eight-point deficit and take the lead in the second quarter. But the Flyers rallied and took back a four-point lead heading into halftime.

Dayton’s offense seemed to have revived itself in the opening minutes of the second half, building their lead up to 17 points halfway through the third quarter. However, the turnover problem continued to hurt the Flyers in the fourth.

The Bobcats cashed in on the Flyers’ struggles and were able to take a seven-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. In spite of a rally by Dayton late in the fourth, Quinnipiac was still able to hold on for a 63-60 victory

“We came out really well in the beginning of the second half and then, we got that big lead and we stopped playing with urgency,” said redshirt senior guard Kelly Austria.

In spite of a rally by Dayton late in the fourth, Quinnipiac was still able to hold on for a 63-60 victory.

“We came out and we were on a 16-3 run to start the second half. We just have to sustain it. We got to be more consistent,” said head coach Shauna Green.

The team’s next game is against the University of Wisconsin Badgers on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

“We’ll be ready to go tomorrow. We’ll watch film and start our game prep with that,” said Greene. “But I told [the team] to learn from this. We’re going to learn from it and look at the tapes and then come back tomorrow to start preparing for the game on Wednesday.”

Photo by Erik Schelkun/Dayton Athletics