Dayton 86, Central Michigan 76
The University of Dayton women's basketball team extended its nation's-best home winning streak to 30 consecutive games after an 86-76 win against the Central Michigan Chippewas Saturday afternoon at UD Arena. A strong senior performance by Andrea Hoover and Ally Malott lifted the Flyers to their sixth win of the season as they improve their record to 6-3 while the Chippewas drop to 3-3.
Hoover and Malott led the Flyers with 25 points and nine rebounds each. Junior Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova also added a season-high 13 points along with six rebounds and two blocks. Freshman Jenna Burdette was perfect from beyond the arc knocking down all three of her three-point field goals to add nine to the Flyer victory.
Although the game was evenly matched, Dayton out-rebounded Central Michigan, 37-34, and scored 18 points on fast break baskets. Dayton shot 50.0 (29-58) percent from the field and 50.0 (11-22) from three-point range while Central Michigan shot 44.6 (29-65) percent from the field and 33.3 (10-30) from three.
The first half was characterized by a game of scoring spurts as both teams traded punches in the first 20 minutes of play leading to a 35-35 score going into the locker room at halftime. The Chippewas put on an offensive performance early on, but fell into a drought about midway through the first half. The Flyers responded by scoring numerous points in transition led by Hoover, who scored 11 points and grabbed five boards for the Flyers in the first half. Malott was not far behind as she added nine points and four rebounds of her own.
In the second half, the Flyers began to pull away as they led by as many as eight points, but the Chippewas answered as the teams were dead-locked at 70 points apiece with 4:54 left to play. From that point, it was all Flyers after a clutch three-point basket by Hoover at the 2:34 mark to secure the win against the Chippewas.
Winthrop 75, Davidson 60
The Winthrop Eagles used an 18-3 run to open the second half to erase Davidson’s five-point halftime lead and the Wildcats were not able to recover in falling 75-60 on the road Saturday evening in Winthrop Coliseum.
Up 27-22 after the break, the Wildcats (3-6) hit just two of their first 13 second-half shots and Winthrop took advantage by rattling off its game-changing run to grab a 40-30 lead seven minutes into the new half. Davidson would get only as close as seven the rest of the way as it was outscored 53-33 in the second half.
Winthrop put four in double figures, led by Aliyah Kilpatrick’s 23 points. Schaquilla Nunn had a double-double on 15 points and 16 rebounds to go with six blocks. CiiCii Buford had 11 off the bench and Zoe Vernon added 10.
For the fifth time Hannah Early led Davidson in scoring with 13 points, one of four Wildcats to score in double figures. She also added eight rebounds, two blocks and three steals.
Mackenzie Latt tallied her fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Lillian McCabe chipped in 11 with nine of them on three-pointers. Dakota Dukes came off the bench to round out the quartet of double-digit scorers with 11.
McCabe brought Davidson to within seven at 50-43 on five straight points with 8:03 remaining, but the Eagles’ Buford answer with five in a row of her own to make it 54-43. Winthrop would push its lead out to as many as 19 points after that.