DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton women’s basketball team opened up its regular season Friday morning with an 81-75 win over the Yale Bulldogs. It was Dayton’s annual school day game and 10,159 fans filled UD Arena.

GAME BREAKDOWN
• After opening the game 2-of-14 from the field, Dayton was able to overcome its slow start shooting in the first quarter by using free throws and rebounding. The Flyers were an efficient 8-of-9 (88%) from the line and outrebounded Yale 16-7 in the first quarter.
• Dayton led at the end of the first quarter, 18-13.
• In the second quarter alone, the score was tied on six different occasions.
• The game was tied 40-40 at halftime.
• Dayton opened up the second half with a 6-0 run to take a 46-40 lead.
• Yale answered with a 7-0 run of its own, to regain the lead 47-46 with 6:40 left in the third quarter.  That was Yale’s last lead of the game.
• Yale tied the game at 71 with 2:19 remaining in the game after two free throws from Nyasha Sarju, who had a game-high 30 points, but Dayton responded with a 9-0 run to take the largest lead of the game and seal the win before Yale was forced to begin fouling.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• The lead did not exceed six for either team until a layup by senior Amber Deane pushed the lead to eight with just 55 seconds left in the game.
• The game was tied 16 different times and there were six lead changes.
• Four Flyers reached double figures in scoring. Those players were:  Deane (19), Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova (12), Jenna Burdette (12), and Saicha Grant-Allen (10).
• 11 different Flyers scored in the game.
• Cornelie-Sigmundova and Grant-Allen led Dayton in rebounding with seven boards a piece, helping the Flyers out-rebound the Bulldogs 42-36.
• Senior Kelley Austria chipped in four assists for the Flyers, good for a team-high.
• The win marked Dayton’s fifth consecutive victory in home openers and its eighth straight overall at UD Arena, dating back to last season.

KEY STAT
• 29:17 – Even though the margin of the game was close throughout, Dayton still led Yale for over 29 minutes, compared to just 1:34 spent in the lead by Yale.  The game was tied for 9:09.

UP NEXT
• The Flyers host Vanderbilt Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at UD Arena.