“They were on fire,” said Flyers coach Shauna Green. “You can’t give up 33 points in a quarter and start a game and expect to win. You can’t give up 10 3-pointers in the first half. That’s not Dayton defense, that’s not what we preach, not what we practice. Akron came out and executed their game plan to a tee.”
Dayton, which had six players unavailable for the game, trailed for more than 38 minutes total and by as many as 17 in the first half, but fought back within one possession late in the fourth quarter.
The Flyers had a chance to take the lead trailing 74-72 with 36.6 seconds remaining, but two attempts by Whalen fell short. Akron’s Gabrielle Mitchell-Brown hit one of two free throws with .1 seconds remaining to seal the victory for the Zips (3-0).
Akron’s Jordyn Dawson scored 26 points, Colleen Neitzel added 18 points, hitting six 3-pointers and Lonasia Brewer added 11.
The Zips jumped out to an early 16-8 lead on a 3-pointer by Rachel Martindale, forcing a Flyers timeout with 5:39 remaining in the first quarter. They extended their lead to 33-16 on a 3-pointer by Akron’s Jordyn Dawson, forcing another UD timeout.
Akron went 10-for-15 from behind the 3-point line in the first half, taking advantage of nine UD turnovers.
“They made us pay for those,” Green said.
The Flyers trailed 52-38 at the half, but came out of the locker room a different team. They outscored Akron 20-10, pulling to within five at 62-57.
“We came out and had more defensive urgency in the second half,” Green said.
In the fourth quarter, the Flyers struggled from the field, shooting 21.1 percent (4-for-19). They also went 16-for-26 from the free throw line in the game. They pulled to within one possession a few times in the final 10 minutes, but were never able to take the lead.
“We left a lot of points out there,” Green said. “We make a few more free throws, layups down the stretch -- those are things we can control. We have to do a better job of controlling the controllables.”
The Flyers travel to Charlotte for a non-conference game at 4 p.m. Thursday. Dayton’s next home game against Alabama A&M on Dec. 13 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They return to UD Arena for another non-conference game against Florida on Dec. 20.
“We must get better and we will get better,” Green said. “We’re going to improve every single day.”
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