Flyers rout Duquesne to start 2-0 in A-10
Whalen, Bradshaw lead balanced offffffffffffensive attack in 64-48 victory.
The Dayton Flyers DAYTON — women’s basketball teamshowed offff its depth Sunday in a 64-48 victory against Duquesne at UD Arena.
Twelve players saw action. Eleven scored. Ten had multiple rebounds. Nine received double-digitminutes. Sevenrecorded an assist. Five blocked a shot, and fifive had a steal. Four made a 3-pointer. Two scored in double digits.
“We haven’t hadmanygames,” Dayton coach Shauna Green said. “Everyonewants to play. Thiswas a really good opportunity to get a lot of people game action. We’re kind of learning on the flfly.”
That depth will help Dayton (3-1, 2-0) throughout the 18-game
Atlantic 10 Conference schedule because itwill play two games in three days every weekend. The change to playing games on Friday and Sunday wasmade by the conference to limit travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
For example, Daytonwill play its next two games in the Washington, D.C., area, facing George Mason onFriday andthenGeorge Washington two days later. The newformat makes it challenging to prepare for games because of the short turnaround. Dayton routed Duquesne (2-4, 1-1) two days after beating St. Bonaventure 56-47.
“I justwant games,” Greensaid. “Is it ideal? No. It’s new for me. I’ve never played a Friday-Sunday schedule. It was a long night on Friday to get a lot of prep in and then be prepared for practice on Saturday. It is what it is. As long as we play, I’ll take everything we get at this point.”
Dayton won its second gameinthree days after playing only two nonconference games in December and not playing at all between Dec. 6 and this week because of COVID-19 issues.
Erin Whalen led the Flyers with 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Araion Bradshaw added12 pointsandmatched Whalen for the team lead with seven rebounds. Jenna Giacone scored eight. Nadjy Tyler and Destiny Bohanon each had six rebounds off the bench.
Dayton trailed once, 5-4 midway through the first quarter. It led 17-12 after one quarter and started the second quarter on a 14-4 run. The Flyers stretched their lead to 53-30 at the end of the third quarter. Duquesne outscored Dayton 18-11 in the fourth quarter.
“I was really happy with how we came out and started the game,” Green said. “We had a solid three quarters. The fourth quarter, we needed to be able to finish. I talked to our team about that. I don’t carewho’s out there. We’ve got to continue to defend, take care of the basketball and finish the game.”