WILMINGTON, Del. -- Top-seeded Dayton has advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship semifinals for a sixth consecutive season, defeating No. 9 Davidson 60-55 in overtime Friday afternoon at CHASE Fieldhouse.
It was the first overtime game of this year’s championships.
With the victory, the No. 1 overall Flyers move on to the A-10 Semifinals, playing host to the winner between fourth-seeded VCU and No. 12 George Washington on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
“This is the best this league has been in a long time.” Dayton head coach Shauna Green said. “Every single night is just a battle and everyone brings something different. Yeah that’s a nine seed (Davidson), but that’s a really good team.”
Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second Team selection Makira Cook led Dayton with 14 points, while senior forward Kyla Whitehead chipped in with 10 points of her own.
“I first want to give a ton of credit to Davidson, they played extremely hard,” Green, the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, stated. “That was a really tough battle. I was proud of (our team), but it was not pretty. All year we have had enough depth that when one person is struggling offensively, people will step up.”
Graduate student Araion Bradshaw was a difference maker on the glass, bringing down 13 rebounds. As a team, Dayton won the rebounding battle by a 44-39 margin.
“She’s smaller but she’s mighty,” said Whitehead. “It’s great especially when she gets the ball first because she’s our pusher. If it’s already in rhythm we can look for our phoenix actions a lot more. It’s great that we have guards that can get in there and mix it up.”
Davidson was led by All-Rookie Team selection Issy Morgan’s 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Additionally, redshirt sophomore forward Elle Sutphin contributed 14 points, also shooting 7-for-14 from the field.
“Obviously a very tough loss to swallow,” Davidson head coach Gayle Fulks said. “We were incredibly competitive and fought hard. To me Dayton is an incredible team and we knew we had to play really well and knew we had to be physical and rebound. For long stretches of the game we were able to accomplish that, and that put us in a position to push to overtime. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Davidson opened the game by scoring six points as three different Wildcats converted shots from the field. On Dayton’s end, the Flyers went nearly four-and-a-half minutes without a basket. Dayton recovered, matching the 6-0 run with one of its own as Cook converted two shots and Kyla Whitehead grabbed an offensive rebound and turned it into two made free throws.
Davidson led by three points after one quarter after Chloe Welch fed Sarah Konstans for a 3-point basket. The Wildcats continued to build momentum following the first-quarter finish, scoring the first six points.
After that start, Dayton used a 12-0 lead to take an advantage, while Davidson was shut out for the final 5:24 of first-half action.
Dayton came out of halftime with aggression, opening the third quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 12-point lead. The advantage stretched to 12 after Araion Bradshaw successfully buried a stepback three-point shot. After three quarters, Dayton remained in front 40-29.
Undeterred by Dayton’s multiple runs, Davidson responded with a 10-1 run as Issy Morgan scored the quarter’s first five points and then a 3-pointer from Konstans and a Sutphin layup accounted for the Wildcat points in the barrage.
Dayton attempted to regain control, with Cook making a jumper to bring the Flyers edge to five points, but Sutphin’s fastbreak layup with 42 seconds remaining in regulation would square the contest.
“The main conversation was to keep being us, stick to our identity and go fight for every single possession,” said Gould. “In these championship games, you don’t get anything back. I think a lot of it was bringing each other together and just doing what we know how to do. We went out there believing in ourselves.”
Davidson had an opportunity to win in regulation, but Dayton countered using multiple fouls it had left to give, leading to less time and ultimately Sutphin’s potential game-winning 3-point shot fell off the mark.
In the overtime period, Whitehead struck first for Dayton, but Morgan offered a quick response with a 3-point basket, placing Davidson back in front. Dayton then broke through for a crucial 6-0 run with Cook earning five of those points as the Flyers were then able to close out the game and secure victory.
“As a veteran group, we know what we have to do nine times out of 10, it’s just about application,” Whitehead said. “It’s going hard, win or go home. Once we got that extra opportunity, it’s all out. You can’t save yourself for anything. We don’t have tomorrow without today.”