Women’s NIT: Dayton Flyers fall to Northern Iowa in first round of NIT

The Dayton Flyers lost 70-56 to Northern Iowa in the first round of the Women’s NIT on Friday afternoon at the UW Health Sports Facility in Rockford, Ill.

“I’m very disappointed in all aspects,” Dayton coach Shauna Green said. “I thought we would come out and respond a lot better from our last time out. Give Northern Iowa credit. They’re a really good team. They spread you out. They all shoot the 3 well.”

Dayton (14-4), making its sixth NIT appearance, lost in the first round for the fifth time. However, its season isn’t over. It will move to the consolation bracket and play at noon Saturday against Bowling Green, which lost 72-65 to Creighton in the second game Friday. Every team in the field was guaranteed at least two games.

“I like the format, especially in a year like this when we didn’t get the non-conference games besides the two,” Green said. “These are the type of teams we could have played in our non-conference. It’s good for us with us being young besides the three seniors. It gives us a variety of different styles. Hopefully, we can bounce back and not end the year on a loss.”

If Dayton wins Saturday, it would play another game at 5 p.m. Monday in the consolation bracket championship game. Possible opponents in that game would be Saint Louis, DePaul, Milwaukee and Drake. A loss Saturday would end its season.

Dayton trailed Northern Iowa 20-13 after the first quarter and 39-29 at halftime. It fell behind by in the third quarter but cut the deficit to 50-43 entering the fourth. Northern Iowa opened the fourth quarter with two 3-pointers, and Dayton trailed by double digits the rest of the way.

Makira Cook led Dayton with 16 points. Kyla Whitehead had nine.

Northern Iowa (15-12), making its ninth NIT appearance, shot 40 percent from 3-point range (12 of 30), while Dayton shot 33.3 percent (4 of 12).

Dayton made 10 of 19 free throws, shooting under 50 percent for the second straight game. It made 6 of 13 in a 56-50 loss to Virginia Commonwealth in the semifinals of the A-10 tournament.

Missed layups also cost the Flyers for the second straight game. They shot 34 percent (17 of 50) from 2-point range.

“It’s focus, and it’s the mental part of it,” Green said. “We got the shots we wanted to get. It was the same thing against VCU. We just couldn’t finish.”