Photos © and Courtesy of Tim G. Zechar

The Dayton Women lead this series 29-4 including being unbeaten by the Raiders at home in the last 18 games. Well make that the last 19 games now. The Lady Raiders made a few good runs, but never got a handle on this game. They tied UD once early in the game, but the Flyers never gave up the lead. With 5:49 left in the first half, Dayton was comfortably in control, 9-33, their largest lead, when the Raiders went on a 17 to 6 run to close out the half. However the Flyers still went into the locker room up by a comfortable 13 point lead, 39-26.

In the half, Ward led the scoring for the Raiders with 10 points and grabbed two rebounds. All eight Raiders would have at least one board in the first half. However, Dayton controlled the boards 17-12. Wright State was shooting 44% (11-25) in the half to UD's 53.6% (15-28). The Lady Raiders 12 turnovers in the half gave Dayton 14 points. If you believe the theory of equal number of fouls - this game disproved it. The Raiders had 9 fouls in the half to just 4 on Dayton. It took most of the first half for most of the team to shake off the nerves they started the game with and start playing good.

The start of the second half saw Ward get a basket and the point after. However, Dayton was ready with an answer of back-to-back threes! At the 2:44 mark with the score 77-44, Junior Guard LaShawna Thomas hit a three and the Raiders went on a last minute 14 to 2 run to finish the game but it wasn't enough. The tired Wright State Raiders went down to defeat 79-58.

Yes, the Lady Raiders were defeated. However, Dayton just played UIC and UW-Milwaukee this past week. These two Horizon League teams lost to Dayton by an average of 30.5 points. UIC lost at home, UWM at Dayton. WSU lost by 21 at the UD Arena. This was a game however when the eight member WSU team showed the shortness of the bench. Senior Erica Richardson fouled out of the game with 7:38 left in the game. Junior Ta-myra Davis played only six minutes (two points and one rebound) in the first half. That left the team with six players and playing a ranked team, they finished the game very tired and running on adrenalin only. The WSU bench provided just six points compared to 30 points for UD's bench.

Ward led the team with 22 points and six rebounds. Thomas sank 13 points and grabbed six boards. Sophomore Molly Fox led the defense with nine boards, three steals and three blocked shots. However, as a team they were called for 18 fouls, compared to 11 for Dayton and they had 24 turnovers, which accounted for 31 Dayton points.

Wright State shot 42.1% (24-57) for the game, including hitting 6 of their 21 three point shots for a 28.6% total. WSU's non-conference schedule is tough and won't get any easier the rest of this month. Next is Miami on the road on Dec 9th. They also will play #3 OSU and University of Cincinnati on the road as well in December.

Horizon League play starts in January with Detroit, Green Bay and Milwaukee on the road before the Lady Raiders can return home on Jan 14th to play Loyola. Hopefully all members of the team will contribute to efforts and stay healthy.

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