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DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton women’s basketball team fought for a 70-59 victory over the previously unbeaten Cincinnati Bearcats Thursday night at UD Arena on Military Appreciation Night.
The Flyers improve to 4-3 overall and dealt UC (5-1) its first loss of the season. Dayton has won the last three meetings against the Bearcats. Also with the win UD Head Coach Jim Jabir accrued his 119th at Dayton, tying him as the all-time winningest coach in Flyer women’s basketball history (with Linda Makowski (1980-86).
UD senior Kristin Daugherty led all scorers with 16 points and redshirt sophomore Brittany Wilson put up 14 points. Junior Justine Raterman added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. Wilson, Casey Nance and Kristin and Kari Daugherty grabbed five boards apiece to help the Flyers win edge UC, 36-32 in rebounding.
UD jumped to a 13-point lead early in the second half, but the Bearcats clawed back to get within two, 54-52, with 6:33 to play.
Kari Daugherty helped stop Cincinnati’s momentum with a steal and coast-to-coast fast break layup with 3:29 to play to give UD a seven-point lead at 61-54. UC answered with a trey on its very next possession to close the gap to four points but that’s as close as the Bearcats would get.
Dayton closed out the last three minutes with a 9-2 run, culminating with senior Aundrea Lindsey’s layup with 12 seconds left in the game for the final tally of 70-59.
“We had some really good moments and I thought we showed some grit,” said Jabir. “We were able to defend and execute on offense. I felt like we really got going in the second half. We were focused and we got going with the run, using our depth on the bench to our advantage.”
UD tied its largest lead of the half when Justine Raterman scored with just 15 seconds to put Dayton up 28-24. Kristin Daugherty led the way in the first stanza scoring 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-2 from behind the arc. Dayton shot 40.7 percent (11-of-27) in the first half, while UC wasn’t too far off, converting 40.0 percent (10-of-25).
Dayton’s marathon week continues when they host the Toledo Rockets Sunday, Dec. 5 at 2 p.m. at UD Arena. It’s the Flyers’ fourth game in nine days.
