HENRICO, Va. -- The Dayton Flyers won its 2026 Betterment Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship second round contest 62-54 against George Washington.
It was a game which featured eight different lead changes.
Dayton had a duo of double-figure scorers with Maliyah Johnson and Ajok Madol concluding play with 14 points.
"I thought it was just a gritty game; we focused on toughness," Dayton coach Tamika Williams-Jeter said. "This is a team that beat us twice this year and we probably played our worst in conference play. It is hard to beat a time three times, but we didn't want to leave it to luck. We had a good game plan to track them around the rim, because that's where they score most of their points. We wanted to win rebounds, that was huge for us and then we also wanted to get to the free throw line. That was essentially our game plan, can we out tough them and get more 50-50 balls? In order to beat a team like GW, you have to make them feel you and we did that tonight."
Fatima Ibrahim put together eight points and six rebounds and was a +17 across 18 minutes of play.
"I think when it comes to Fatima there is a level of grit and efficiency," offered Williams-Jeter. "You look at her numbers, and she is a kid with athleticism we can bring to match with (Sara Lewis) who was cooking and shooting layups. She is someone who can be more of a shot blocker and have more of a presence, tenacity in those spaces. She's been very good for us. She's another person who stayed the course, kept fighting and now she's playing great basketball."
Dayton shot 45.7% from the field, won the fastbreak points battle 13-0 and bench points 25-9. Defensively the Flyers recorded 10 steals and held the Revolutionaries to a 33.9% shooting clip.
For George Washington, Sara Lewis achieved a double-double with her 19 points and 10 rebounds, her third such effort of the season. All-Conference Third Team Selection Gabby Reynolds put up 11 points before fouling out. Mia Jacobs also earned 11 points.
"Not the outcome that we wanted in this game," George Washington head coach Ganiyat Adeduntan explained. "I thought we were very prepared and had a great mentality. It was being able to respond when challenged. This has been a really great first season with our group, but we've learned a lot of what it takes every single day. We play in a very competitive league where every game matters and competitiveness needs to be high. It is a work in progress."
Dayton scored the game's first four points before GW responded with a 7-0 run. Neither team could get it going from beyond the arc early as the lead changed hands five separate times in the first quarter.
By the end of it, Reynolds converted a pullup jumper allowing for the Revolutionaries to take a 14-13 lead heading into the second quarter.
Within the first minute of the second quarter, Nicole Stephens fed Johnson and in doing so Dayton reclaimed its lead.
Dayton would go on the game's first run, a 6-0 run and a Fatima Ibrahim jumper allowed the Flyers to build a nine-point lead as GW opted to call a timeout.
GW's response came fairly quickly, culminating in Mia James taking and making a three-point shot, separating the teams by three points.
Dayton's Olivia Leung split free throws, as the Flyers had a 31-27 halftime edge.
GW was able to get the better of the third quarter's start, taking the lead after a pair of Lewis free throws.
Dayton was able to bounce back with the game's largest run, a 12-0 mark. Johnson was responsible for five of those points and Leung's three-point effort concluded the run of play.
"Even in our huddles it was grittiness and toughness," Dayton graduate student guard Nicole Stephens observed. "That's what's going to pull us through and after the first quarter, we settled in, but we needed to get it into the paint. That was something we touched on, which we outscored them and then getting out and running in the second half. Just getting those small corrections and making sure we had our toughness the whole time."
Later on in the quarter, Johnson saw her defender put a hand down and her shot narrowly beat the clock, Dayton's final basket of the quarter, taking a 48-43 advantage into the fourth quarter.
With both teams in an offensive stalemate for the opening two minutes, Dayton was hovering around a double-digit margin for much of the stanza.
GW had one last effort, making a basket to cut its deficit to six points. When Dayton missed a pair of free throws, the Revolutionaries had the opportunity to score once again, but instead Molly O'Riordan blocked a shot and the game would not get any closer.
"The month of February we went through a lot of adversity through sicknesses and injuries, but I honestly feel that brought us closer together," Flyers junior guard/forward Ajok Madol commented. "It shows on the court, we celebrate each other constantly and feed off each other's energy so that definitely helps in the long run. Those teams are the ones that play through March."
George Mason now awaits Dayton in a Friday quarterfinal contest at 5 p.m. on the USA Network. The Flyers will hope that for a second consecutive round a third meeting will prove to be the charm.