Dayton opens A-10 women’s tournament with victory against La Salle

That instruction paid off as Dayton turned a 42-37 halftime lead into a 58-45 advantage midway through the third quarter. The No. 1 seed Flyers then cruised to an 85-70 victory against No. 8 seed La Salle in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Va.

“Give La Salle a ton of credit,” Green said. “Having all that guard action and ability to hit 3s, no lead is a good lead against La Salle. They fought back in the second half, but I thought we came out strong and did what we wanted to do. Then we were able to finish, and we were also able to get a lot of our younger guys in and get them some experience and get a little bit of rest for our starters.”

Dayton (14-2) will play No. 5 seed Virginia Commonwealth (14-10) in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Siegel Center. It’s the fifth straight season Dayton has reached the semifinals and the 13th time in the last 14 seasons. The game will air on the CBS Sports Network.

VCU beat No. 4 seed Rhode Island 64-57 in overtime Friday in the second quarterfinal game. Dayton beat VCU 67-62 in Dayton on Feb. 14. This is the third straight season the teams have played in the A-10 tournament. VCU beat Dayton 61-52 in the semifinals in Pittsburgh in 2019. Dayton beat VCU 52-48 in the championship game last season at UD Arena.

This was Dayton’s second game against La Salle (13-13). The Flyers, who have won six straight games in the series 17 of the last 18, won 95-66 at La Salle on Feb. 7.

Jenna Giacone led Dayton with 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting. She said the players tore each other up in practice the last two weeks in preparation for this game. Dayton typically has a break between the A-10 tournament and the NCAA tournament, but with the A-10′s decision to switch the dates of the men’s and women’s tournaments, whatever A-10 team wins the championship Sunday will not have to wait long to play in the NCAA tournament, which will be held in San Antonio, Texas.

“We were just ready to see see different faces out on the floor, ready to compete against someone else that wasn’t our own teammate,” Giacone said. “The energy just carried on, so that was good to see.”

Tenin Magassa had 16 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. Kyla Whitehead also had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Erin Whalen scored 12 points, and Makira Cook had 11.

Araion Bradshaw was the third player who reached double-figures in rebounds (10), and she led the team with six assists. Dayton had a 52-35 rebounding advantage.

“That puts us in a position to win basketball games when we rebound at that level” Green said.