RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Dayton women's basketball team is returning to its fourth Atlantic 10 Championship Finals appearance in the last five years after defeating Duquesne, 74-60, in semifinal action Saturday. The second-seeded Flyers eliminated the third-seeded Dukes on their way to square off against No. 1 George Washington Sunday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at the Richmond Coliseum and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

With the win, Dayton improves to 25-5 on the season. Duquesne falls to 21-10 overall. Junior Kelley Austria led all scorers with a season-high 20 points to go with four steals while senior Ally Malott scored 14 points and dished out three assists. Junior Amber Deane chipped in 10 points and is now just TWO points away from 1,000 for her career.

Also for Dayton, junior Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova swatted a career-high-tying six blocks and Deane was one of two Flyers with eight rebounds (sophomore Saicha Grant-Allen).

For the game, Dayton shot 46.2 percent from the floor to Duquesne's 35 percent. The Dukes narrowly won the battle of the boards, 40-39.

The Flyers built on their two-point halftime lead and Dayton led by as many as 16 down the stretch. Duquesne was held without a field goal for more than six minutes during the second half of the second period as Dayton broke open its lead. Both freshman Jenna Burdette and Grant-Allen scored all eight of their points in the second half to keep the Flyers ahead of the Dukes.

Dayton held a two-point advantage, 32-30, at intermission after a relatively close first half. The Dukes out-rebounded the Flyers by one board, 21-20, and Duquesne was slightly more accurate from the floor, shooting 42.9 percent to Dayton's 40.5 percent. Austria led the Flyers in the first frame with 11 points.

Duquesne was led by Deva'Nyar Workman with 18 points while Jose-Ann Johnson was one rebound shy of the double-double with 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.