AMES, Iowa – The University of Dayton women's basketball team opened the 2022 NCAA Women's Basketball tournament Wednesday night with a comfortable 88-57 victory over DePaul University.

The Flyers (26-5) move on to the First Round to face No. 6 Georgia while the Blue Demons (22-11) end their season.

KEY MOMENT
1^st half – Dayton scored 55 points in the first half, a season high, and DePaul had no chance from there.

GAME BREAKDOWN
1^st Quarter: Dayton 29, DePaul 21

• DePaul jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the opening minute before a Makira Cook three evened the score.
• The Demons wanted to push the tempo, but the Flyers were hanging right with them.
• At the 6:24 mark, a drive by Cook put UD up 11-10.
• By the media timeout, the Flyers held a 16-14 advantage.
• Graduate student Jenna Giacone drilled a corner three out of the break to give UD its biggest lead of the game. She followed that up with a huge block on the defensive end.
• Dayton kept the momentum going on their 9-0 run, forcing a DePaul timeout with 2:50 to play.
• Cook became the first player in double digits with 12 on 4-of-4 shooting.
• The Flyers shot 63 percent in the opening quarter and 75 percent from three while grad student Erin Whalen joined Cook with double-digit points.

2^nd Quarter: Dayton 55, DePaul 32

• The Flyers slowed down to start the second and didn't get their first points until the 7:45 mark with what else but threes from Whalen and Giacone.
• UD got the margin to double digits at 35-25 just three minutes into the second.
• DePaul was forced to call its second timeout with 5:19 to play as four straight threes put Dayton up 41-25.
• Giacone scored 11 straight points for the Flyers while Dayton was on a 6-for-7 stretch.
• A putback for sophomore Tenin Magassa made it a 20-0 point game at the 1:00 mark, 52-32.
• The Flyers ended the half holding the Demons without a field goal for 2:56.
• Three players were in double digits: Cook (14), Whalen (17), and Giacone (19).
• Defensively, UD held DePaul to 30 percent and had six blocks.

3^rd Quarter: Dayton 73, DePaul 44

• The Demons struck first to start the second half, but Whalen answered with her seventh three.
• At the 6:33 mark, grad student Araion Bradshaw converted an and-one to put Dayton up 61-38.
• The Flyers were in the bonus for the quarter with 5:36 to play and scored their next four at the free throw line.
• With their ninth block of the game, the Flyers tied a season-high while the Demons were on a 4+ minute scoring drought.
• Both teams went cold from the field over the next few minutes as UD went without a field goal for three minutes.
• Dayton allowed only one DePaul player to score in the third.

4^th Quarter: Dayton 88, DePaul 57

• UD and DePaul traded buckets in the opening three minutes of the fourth quarter before the Demons called their third time out with the score 77-49 in favor of the Flyers.
• The Flyers kept the margin at 30 points midway through the fourth while the Demons faced another drought.
• In the end, Dayton had just two big of lead for DePaul to mount a comeback and the bench stepped up to hold the lead.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
55 – The 55 first half points were the most in a half for the Flyers this season.
6 – Jenna Giacone and Erin Whalen both had six threes in the first half, which already was a career high for Giacone.
14 – Dayton had a season-high nine blocks in the contest, seven from Tenin Magassa alone.
27% - The Flyers held the Demons to a season-low 27% and 57 points.
13 – Dayton hit 13 threes in the game.

KEY STAT
55 – The 55 points by the Flyers in the first half was the most in a single half this season.  

UP NEXT
Dayton will move on to face the No. 6 seed Georgia Friday at 7:30 p.m.