Dayton Flyers fall at Providence in first game for head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter

The Dayton Flyers lost 69-60 at Providence on Monday in the first game for head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter.

Wayne grad Destiny Bohanon, a redshirt junior guard, scored a career-high 22 points on 8-of-20 shooting for Dayton. She made 4 of 6 3-pointers in 39 minutes.

Bohanon scored a total of 71 points the last two seasons after redshirt as a freshman in 2019-20. Her previous career high was eight points.

Freshman Nayo Lear came off the bench to score 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting in 30 minutes.

Sophomore forward Shannon Wheeler, one of the four players who returned to the program after coach Shauna Green left for Illinois in March, scored 10 points.

Maliya Perry had a team-high nine rebounds to go with four points.

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Dayton trailed 18-11 after one quarter and 29-21 at halftime. It got no closer than eight points in the third quarter but the Providence lead to 53-48 on a 3-pointer by Bohanon with 6:30 to play and 60-55 on another 3 by Bohanon with 3:27 remaining. That was as close as the Flyers got.

Providence outscored Dayton 18-9 at the free-throw line. Janai Crooms, who previously played two seasons at Ohio State and one season at Michigan State, led Providence with 20 points and became the 37th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone.

Dayton plays its home opener at 7 p.m. Thursday against Illinois State. That game will be the season opener for the Redbirds.