Hot shooting Akron spoils home opener for UD’s women
Comeback effffffffffffort falls short after 3-point barrage buries Flyers.
TheUniversity of Daytonwomen’s DAYTON— basketball teamwas unable to withstand a barrage of 3-pointers from Akron in its home opener on Sunday afternoon at UD Arena.
Flyers senior ErinWhalen had 26 points and seven rebounds and senior Jenna Giacone added 16 points, but Akron shot 52 percent (13-for-25) from behind the arc en route to a 77-74 victory.
“Theywere onfifire,” saidFlyers coach Shauna Green. “You can’t give up 33 points in a quarter and start a game and expect to win. You can’t give up 10 3- pointers in the fifirst half. That’s not Dayton defense, that’s not what we preach, not what we practice. Akron came out and executed their game plan to a tee.”
Dayton, which had six players unavailable for the game, trailed formorethan38minutes totaland by as many as 17 in the fifirst half, but fought back within one possession late in the fourth quarter.
The Flyers had a chance to take the lead trailing 74-72 with 36.6 seconds remaining, but two attempts by Whalen fell short. Akron’s GabrielleMitchell- Brown hit one of two free throws with .1 seconds remaining to seal the victory for the Zips (3-0).
Akron’s Jordyn Dawson scored 26 points, Colleen Neitzel added 18 points, hitting six 3-pointers and Lonasia Brewer added 11.
The Zips jumped out to anearly 16-8 lead on a 3-pointer byRachel Martindale, forcing a Flyers timeout with5:39 remaining inthefifirst quarter. They extended their lead to 33-16 on a 3- pointer by Dawson, forcing anotherUDtimeout.
Akron went 10-for-15 from behind the 3-point line in the first half, taking advantage of nine UD turnovers.
“Theymade us pay for those,” Green said.
The Flyers trailed 52-38 at the half, but came out of the locker rooma difffffffffffferent team. They out
scored Akron 20-10, pulling to within five at 62-57.
“We came out and had more defensive urgency in the second half,” Green said.
In the fourth quarter, the Flyers struggled from the field, shooting 21.1 percent (4-for-19). They also went 16-for-26 fromthe free throwline in the game. They pulled to within one possession a few times in the final 10 minutes, but were never able to take the lead.
“We left a lot of points out there,” Green said. “Wemake a fewmore free throws, layups down the stretch -- those are things we can control. We have
to do a better job of controlling the controllables.”
The Flyers travel to Charlotte for a non-conference game at 4 p.m. Thursday. Dayton’s next home game against Alabama A&M on Dec. 13 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
They return to UD Arena for another non-conference game against Florida on Dec. 20.
“We must get better and we will get better,” Green said. “We’re going toimprove every single day.”