After getting off to a fast start, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team could not maintain its lead in a 69-30 loss to Dayton on the road Saturday evening in Dayton, Ohio.
Leading the way for Evansville were senior Kerri Gasper and freshman A’Niah Griffin, who each scored nine points on the night. Gasper tied a career-high in the contest, pulling down a game-best 12 boards including eight rebounds in the first half. For the Flyers, Jayla Scaife paced Dayton with 11 points, while Julia Chandler joined Scaife in double-figures with 10 points.
Taking a 2-0 lead before the jump ball due to a scorebook error by Dayton, the Purple Aces took the early advantage and pulled out to a 16-3 lead midway through the first quarter. Dayton responded to close the first period, going on an 11-0 run to cut Evansville’s lead to just two at the conclusion of the first. The Flyers’ run continued in the second quarter as Dayton moved in front, taking a 34-21 lead to the half.
Out of the break, Dayton increased its advantage to 28 at the end of the third quarter at 53-25. In the final stanza, the Flyers led by as many as 40 before ending the contest with the 69-30 win.
Evansville started the contest strong, shooting 5-11 (45.5%) from the field in the opening quarter, but concluded the game shooting 13.6% (6-44) from the field over the final three periods.
The Aces return to action in their final home game of 2018 as Evansville takes on Austin Peay on Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. inside Meeks Family Fieldhouse.
