AMHERST, Mass. - Junior Christy Macioce scored 14 of her career-high 26 points in the fourth quarter to lead a late-game comeback but Dayton was unable to overcome Massachusetts Wednesday night, falling 76-69 at the Mullins Center. With the loss, Dayton falls to 13-11 on the season and 6-7 in Atlantic 10 action while Massachusetts improves to 8-17 overall and 2-11 in league action.
GAME BREAKDOWN
• 1Q: Both team started slow offensively, with the first field-goal of the game coming at the 7:24 mark – a jumper from junior Andrijana Cvitkovic. Macioce put together three consecutive three-point baskets to put Dayton up 15-9 and the Flyers were ahead four, 15-11, at the end of the frame.
• 2Q: Massachusetts opened the second with a three-point basket, the first of four for UMass in the quarter. The Minutewomen out-scored the Flyers 28-11 in the second quarter to jump out to a 39-26 lead at the half.
• 3Q: UMass held its largest lead at 18, 50-32, with 6:20 left to play in the third. A three-point basket from Macioce with less than three seconds showing on the clock cut the advantage to 14, 59-45 to close out the third.
• 4Q: Macioce then opened the fourth quarter with another three, the first of her 14 fourth-quarter points. Her career-best seventh three-point basket of the game pulled Dayton to within two, 67-65, with just under five minutes remaining in the contest. Despite a furious fourth-quarter comeback, Dayton could not overcome the deficit as Massachusetts claimed a 76-69 win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Macioce led all scorers with a career-high 26 points after going 7-of-12 from long range and 5-of-6 from the line. She equaled her career high with seven rebounds, grabbed two steals and dished one assists.
• Sophomore Jenna Burdette was the second Flyer in double-figures scoring with 11 points. She dished out eight assists, grabbed four rebounds and tallied three steals.
• Massachusetts was led by Cierra Dillard with 25 points while Rashida Timbilla narrowly missed the double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
KEY STATS
• Massachusetts won the battle of the boards with 44 rebounds to Dayton's 39.
• For the night, Dayton shot 31.3 percent from the floor to Massachusetts' 38.2 percent and the Flyers made 18 of its 20 free throw attempts (90 percent) as the Minutewomen shot 76.2 percent from the line (16-21).
UP NEXT
Dayton will close out the 2015-16 regular season with three consecutive homes game kicking off with Sunday's match-up against Duquesne. Sunday's contest will be the team's Play 4Kay game and you can join the Flyers by joining Dayton's team page here: www.play4kay.org/daytonwomensbasketball
