A Special to Atlantic10.com by Zac Weiss
RICHMOND, Va. – The top-seeded Dayton Flyers advanced to its fifth consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship semifinal following an 85-70 victory against eighth-seeded La Salle Thursday afternoon at VCU’s Siegel Center.
Dayton’s Jenna Giacone led the way for the Flyers with 17 points and Tenin Magassa added a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Magassa also had four blocks on the afternoon.
“I thought our start was great and that was something I was concerned about after having two weeks off,” Dayton coach Shauna Green said. “We came out strong, but then we went through that lull and they made a run. I give La Salle a ton of credit having to guard that action and their ability to hit threes. No lead is a good lead against La Salle because the can just reel out three points and they fought back in the second half. I thought we came out strong in the second half, did what we wanted to do and we were able to finish”.
Kyla Whitehead also earned a double-double as she swished 14 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Erin Whalen contributed 12 points for Dayton’s victory and Makira Cook netted 11 points. Araion Bradshaw brought down 10 rebounds while recording six assists.
Dayton had significant advantages with rebounds (52-35) and in the paint (52-18), while shooting 61.2% on its two-point shots.
“It was pretty close with the battle of the boards at halftime and then we end up 52-35,” Green said. “We know that puts us in a position to win basketball games when we rebound at that level. It’s crazy when AB (Bradshaw) grabs five or six on a good day, and goes in there and is one of our top rebounders from the point-guard position.”
La Salle was paced by Kayla Spruill’s 17 points and seven rebounds. Molly Masciantonio added 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Haleigh Hill scored 11 points, while Amy Jacobs swished home 10 points.
Claire Jacobs, who scored 27 points in the team’s second-round victory over Duquesne, was held to six points on 2-of-16 shooting.La Salle was 9-for-38 on its three-point shots, with those 38 attempts eclipsing the previous record of 31 set by Duquesne in the 2016 Atlantic 10 Championship finals.
“Well, Dayton’s really good as you’ve seen all year,” La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray said. “We were pleased to make the spread a little bit better than the last time. We came in here and thought we had a game plan that was going to able to come away with a win and they countered it.”
Dayton started the contest strongly, with a 10-0 run, La Salle responded with a 6-0 run of its own, before Dayton went on another 10-0 run, and opened a 13-point advantage.
Dayton saw all eight of its players who saw the court time score in the first half and it used a 16-0 paint advantage to take a 26-14 lead into the second quarter.
“We tore each other up the last two weeks of practice,” Dayton’s Jenna Giacone said. “We were just ready to see different faces out on the court, ready to compete against someone else. The energy just carried on which was good to see.”
La Salle opened the quarter on a 10-4 run, but Dayton responded with a 7-2 run, leading by as many as 12 points following a Giacone three-point shot. The Explorers refused to be denied, going on a 6-0 run to trail by five points at halftime.
La Salle cut Dayton’s lead to four points in the third quarter, but Dayton used another 12-3 run taking a second 13-point advantage.
“I think we really had nothing to lose and we just wanted to play our hearts out and have fun,” La Salle’s Molly Masciantonio said. “It showed on the court because personally, I think we were having a lot of fun and were working really hard.”
An 11-2 Flyers run placed the top seed up by 18 points, which proved too much for La Salle to overcome.
Dayton has advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals tomorrow at 1 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network, where it will meet either fourth-seeded Rhode Island or fifth-seeded VCU.