University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Dayton
Dayton Surges Past Women's Basketball, 74-60
February 13, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2010
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AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass women's basketball team had four starters score in double figures, but the balanced attack was not enough as the squad fell to Dayton 74-60, on Saturday afternoon at the Mullins Center in a nationally-televised contest. With the setback, the Minutewomen are now 9-16 on the season, 3-7 in the Atlantic 10, while the Flyers improve to 20-5, 8-2 in conference play.
Senior Diatiema Hill paced the Minutewomen with 15 points and added five assists. Sophomore Kristina Danella and freshman Jasmine Watson followed with 12 points apiece. Danella had five rebounds, while Watson grabbed a team-high seven boards and had a career-best six blocks. Senior Kim Benton totaled 10 points and five assists and redshirt junior Megan Zullo, the fifth UMass starter, was just shy of double figures with nine points. Zullo dished five helpers, as well.
The Minutewomen led early, 4-3, as Danella sunk a pair of free throws at the 17:25 mark, but Dayton sprinted out to a nine-point lead after an 11-3 run put the Flyers in front, 16-7. A three from Benton with 9:20 on the clock brought UMass to within five, but the squad hit a dry spell, not scoring for the next six minutes. During that stretch, Dayton pushed its advantage out to 12 at 26-14. Then, following a bucket by sophomore Nicole Jones that broke up the Minutewomen draught at 3:20, the Flyers scored five straight points to build their largest lead of the half, 30-16.
However before Dayton could pull away any further, UMass closed the final 2:02 with an 11-1 run to trim the deficit to four at the half, 31-27, capped off by a three-pointer at the buzzer by Zullo. The Minutewomen drained three from beyond the arc in that span, two by Zullo and one from Hill.
UMass continued the comeback in the second half as a pair of layups by Watson in the first 1:08 of the period tied the score at 31. That was as close as the Minutewomen would come, however, as the Flyers stung together nine straight points between 16:10 and 13:45 to push the margin back to double figures, 44-34. Dayton led by five or more the rest of the way, expanding the cushion to 18 with two minutes to play in the contest.
Five Flyers scored 10 or more on the afternoon, including 10 from Kristin Daugherty who notched her 1,000th career point. Patrice Lalor had a team-high 13 points and chipped in six rebounds four assists and two steals, while Justine Raterman totaled 12 points and a squad-best seven boards. Casey Nance and Elle Queen recorded 10 points apiece in the contest, as well.
UMass shot 22-for-52 (42.3%) overall, 9-for-21 (42.9%) from three and 7-for-8 (87.5%) at the free throw line. Dayton finished 25-for-65 (38.5%) overall, 9-for-25 (36.0%) from three and 15-for-19 at the charity stripe, while out-rebounding the Minutewomen, 40-30. The rebounding margin helped the Flyers to a 27-7 advantage in second chance points.
The Minutewomen next travel to La Salle on Wednesday, Feb. 17. The squad will take on the Explorers at 7 p.m. in Philadelphia, Pa.
