Feb. 26, 2006

Box Score | A-10 Championship Bracket in PDF Format

CINCINNATI - The Flyer women's basketball team rallied from a 20-point deficit but come up short in a 71-64 loss Xavier to end the regular season. Dayton finished the regular season with a 16-11 overall record and an 8-8 mark in Atlantic 10 play.

Ignited by the bench of Holterman, Cloxton, and Oakland with 24 points, UD rallied from a 20-point deficit to cut the lead to three at 64-61 but Xavier went 7-for-8 from the free throw line to close out the game and the win.

Cara Wright had 22 points to lead the Flyers who enter the Atlantic 10 Championship as the sixth seed. UD's first opponent will be 11th seeded Rhode Island on Friday at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse on the campus of Saint Joseph's University. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET in Philadelphia.

Sophomore Nikki Oakland added 10 points and six rebounds for the Flyers who finished the regular season with the most wins since the 2000-01 campaign.

The duo of Terri Ramsey and Karah Cloxton dished out 11 assists combined for Dayton. Ramsey led all players with six assists while Cloxton added five of the Flyers' 18 on the afternoon.

UD got behind early, as Xavier took off on a 14-4 run to start the game.

The Flyer's shooting woes continued; as they only made 10 of 32 shots in the first half, and trailed 34-22 going into the locker room.

Xavier got off to a 50-30 lead in the second half and any chance of a comeback seemed hopeless for the Flyers. A layup from Wright with 13:53 ended the Flyer drought, and UD went on a 31-11 run in a 12 minute span cutting the lead to three a 64-61 with 2:08 remaining in the game.

Xavier was too much down the stretch, as they were nearly perfect hitting 7-of-8 from the free-throw line to close out the game at 71-64 and end the Flyers' hopes of a comeback.

Xavier was led by Senior Tara Boothe with 24 points and 11 rebounds becoming school's all-time career leading rebounder at 968.