Women’s basketball: Dayton Flyers stretch winning streak to nine games by beating La Salle

An 18-0 run to start the game and the best offensive performance of the season carried the Dayton Flyers women’s basketball team to a 95-66 victory Sunday against La Salle at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia.

Dayton hit a season best in points and topped 50 percent shooting for the first time (52.1, 37 of 71) while matching its season high in 3-pointers made (9 of 18). It had a season-high 25 assists and a season-low 10 turnovers.

Tenin Magassa had 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Makira Cook made 7 of 13 shots and scored 16. Jenna Giacone made 4 of 5 3-pointers and finished with 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Erin Whalen scored 11 points.

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La Salle missed its first eight shots and turned the ball over twice in the first 5½ minutes as Dayton dominated early, stretching the 18-0 lead to as many as 21 points in the first quarter.

Dayton (10-1, 9-0) won its ninth straight game and fourth straight on the road since a 17-day layoff because of COVID-19 problems. It remains alone in first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Every other team has at least two losses.

The Flyers went 2-0 on the trip to Philadelphia. They won 55-43 at Saint Joseph’s on Friday. This was Dayton’s fifth straight victory in the series against La Salle (9-10, 5-7).

Dayton plays its next two games at UD Arena, where it hasn’t played since Jan 14. It plays Richmond (10-4 7-2) at 5 p.m. Friday and Virginia Commonwealth (9-7, 7-2) at noon Sunday.