Free throws help Flyers advance to A-10 semifinal

Layfield, Cannatelli each score 17 points against Richmond.

Records: George Washington (13-16, 7-10 Atlantic 10) at Dayton (13-16, 7-10) When: 3 p.m. today Where: UD Arena TV/Radio: NBC Sports Network; AM 1290, News 95.7 WHIO

Probable Dayton starters

Josh Cunningham 6-7 R-Jr. F Darrell Davis 6-5 Sr. G Trey Landers 6-5 So. G Jalen Crutcher 6-1 Fr. G Jordan Davis 6-2 Fr. G Probable GW starters

Patrick Steeves 6-8 Gr. F 10.4 Arnoldo Toro 6-8 So. F 7.6 Terry Nolan Jr. 6-2 Fr. G 9.3 Yuta Watanabe 6-9 Sr. G 16.5 Justin Mazzulla 6-3 Fr. G 2.6

George Washington leads 17-16. Dayton lost 87-81 at George Washington in the regularseason finale last season. Dayton has won seven straight games against George Washingon at UD Arena. The 15.5 15.2 10.9 9.3 7.9 Colonials last won in Dayton in 2005. That game featured a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Carl Elliott, who stole a pass and flung up a desperation shot as time expired.

Anthony Grant is 13-16 as Dayton head coach. His career record in 10 seasons is 206-126. Maurice Joseph is 34-31 in his second season at George Washington.

On Wednesday, Dayton lost 71-53 at La Salle, and GW beat Fordham 72-56 in Washington, D.C. Dayton a 68 percent chance of winning and predicts a 71-66 score. ... Dayton is11-4 at home and 1-10 intrue road games. A loss would drop it four games under .500 for the first time this season . ... Darrell Davis has 972 points in his career. He’s 28 points from becoming the 48th player in school history to score 1,000 points . ... Dayton has won its last home game six years in a row . ... As of Thursday, fewer than 100 tickets remained for the game. Dayton is assured of having the second-best average attendance in UD Arena history. A sellout crowd of 13,350 would give it an average of 12,996. UD set the record last season (13,018).

Watanabe scored a career-high 31 points Wednesday on Senior Night. He had a number of family members from Japan in the crowd . ... Jair Bolden averages 10.6 points off the bench . ... The Colonials are 1-7 in A-10 road games. Their only road win came at Massachusetts (83-72 on Feb. 14) . ... The Colonials rank 336th out of 351 Division I teams in minutes played by their bench (23.7 percent). Dayton ranks 318th (25 percent).

Dayton will start play in the A-10 tournament on Wednesday or Thursday at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The bracket will be announced after Saturday night’s A-10 games.

— DAVID JABLONSKI

It could RICHMOND, VA. — not have worked out better for the Atlantic 10 to have several hundred fans in the seats when the quarterfinals of the women’s tournament began at 11 a.m. Friday.

A bunch of screaming stu- dents from Richmond Public Schools were in the stands at the Richmond Coliseum for the first of four games, which by coincidence included the No. 8 seeded Richmond Spi- ders.

“You don’t really pay attention to that,” Dayton senior forward JaVonna Layfield said of the homecourt edge.

Top-seeded Dayton spoiled the day off of school for the students, overcoming a slug- gish start and late scare to win 67-58 and advance to the semifinals today.

Layfield had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Lauren Cannatelli also had 17 points, Jenna Burdette added 14 points and Jayla Scaife had 10 points.

“It is like an away game, really, which is fine,” UD coach Shauna Green said of the atmosphere.

Dayton (23-5), the defend- i ng tou r ney champion, advances to face No. 5 George Washington, which beat George Mason 64-59 on Friday.

“We need to be better (against) whomever we play,” said Green, the A-10’s coach of the year. “That was a tough opening 1-8 game. You have to try and find a way. We made plays when we had to on the defensive end.”

Cannatelliwas 9 of 9 from the free-throw line, Layfield was 8 of 10, Burdette was 6 of 8 and the Flyers were 26 of 31 as a team.

“I thought it was just a men- tality of attack and getting in the paint,” Cannatelli said.

“We preach attack mode every single day,” Green said. “You have to go at them.”

Cannatelli hit two free throws with 36.7 seconds left to make it 62-56 and Burdette made two more with 30.3 to go to make it 64-58 as the Flyers prevailed, after leading by 11 midway through the second quarter.

The Spiders (14-17) had come pulled to 53-52 with Dayton vs. George Washington, 11 a.m. Dayton coach 4:00 left on a

Dee Hatcher.

UD won its first 15 conference games this season before falling in the regular-season finale last weekend against Saint Louis. The Flyers got a first-round bye before facing Richmond, which won on Tuesday against No. 9 seed Davidson.

“I think we responded well,” Green said. “We knew it would be a tough game. I thought we did the things we needed to do and get that (winning) feeling back. All of our games this year, we have not played perfect. Again we found a way. I know we were sluggish to start.”

Early on, the Flyers turned the ball over and Richmond scored nine straight points to take a 9-6 lead. Dayton responded with a flurry of 3-pointers early in the second quarter during an 11-0 run to take the lead forgood.

“Coach stressed that we needed to pick up our intensity,” Layfield said.

Dayton led by 11 points several times in the second quarter and was up 34-26 at halftime as Layfield scored 12 of her points before intermission.

Micaela Parson led Richmond with 24 points.

Notes: Dayton won the battle of the boards 37-35 and shot 38 percent from the field, including 5 of 16 from 3-point range ... Scaife and Kailyn Fee of Richmond received technicals in the closing seconds with the outcome already decided. 3-pointer by

‘We need to be better (against) whomever we play. That was a tough opening 1-8 game. You have to try and find a way. We made plays when we had to on the defensive end.’ Shauna Green