PHILADELPHIA – La Salle women's basketball fell to the Dayton Flyers 72-69 in an exciting overtime contest Sunday afternoon. The Explorers go to 7-14 overall on the season and 4-6 in conference play.
 
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HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Explorers came out of the gate a little slow offensively, as the Flyers got off to a 7-2 lead before La Salle got their offense rolling.
• Nicole Melious hit a three-point shot, her first of the day, and one of nine attempts for the day. That shot got the Explorer offense on track.
• The remainder of the first was fueled by Tiara Bolden and Molly Masciantonio, but the Explorers found themselves down 14-12 after one.
• The first five minutes of the second quarter, the game remained consistent. Both teams went back and forth scoring the ball.
• Dayton got contributions from Mariah Perez to get them up 20-16 before the Explorers went on a run to end the half.
• Laia Monclova took her first shot of the game, proving to be a big one that gave La Salle the 22-20 lead. Monclova followed that possession up with another successful layup conversion.
• From that point on, Masciantonio took over for La Salle. A good jump-shot and a three-point conversion helped the Explorers to a 29-22 lead at the end of the first half.
• A quick start in the third quarter from Dayton did not deter the Explorers from getting back the lead quickly.
• Up by one at one point, Jolene Armendariz found a two-point layup to greaten the lead. Makayla Miller would then have two separate trips to the free-throw line, going one for two both times.
• La Salle continued to pile it on the rest of the third quarter, being up by 12 at one point. The Flyers, however would go on a run of their own to cut the lead to five by the end of the third.
• Eve Fiala and Destiny Bohanon started the fourth for Dayton with fire power on offense and helped tie the game at 46 points.
• A three-point shot from Melious got La Salle back on top, but it would not last long. The teams would go back-and-forth on offense, trading blows the rest of the way.
• With less than a minute left, La Salle was down 56-53, but then Masciantonio would tie things up with a clutch three-point shot. On the next possession from Dayton, Nayo Lear would give them the lead back. However, a jumpshot conversion from Miller would send the teams to overtime.
• A fastbreak two-point shot by Turco would get La Salle up 60-58 quickly in the extra period of play. But, similarly to the fourth, both teams would convert offensively regularly.
• Dayton got themselves up 68-64 before Armendariz hit a three-point shot that would cut the lead to one for the Flyers, but it would still not be enough.
• One last push by Miller would get the Explorers within one, but the consistent free-throw shooting of the Flyers would prove to be the difference in the fourth, and overtime period.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Molly Masciantonio lead La Salle with 18 points scored today, her second most scored this season.
• Three other Explorers scored in the double-digit range today including Nicole Melious (11), Jolene Armendariz (11), and Makayla Miller (10).
• Miller has now scored double-digit points in nine-straight games. She is averaging 13.2 points per game in this stretch.
• Free throws proved to be a huge difference in today's game. La Salle went 8-18 from the charity stripe, while the Flyers went 13-16.
• La Salle had a hard time finding the consistent shot from three-point range, only converting seven of the 30 attempted shots.

UP NEXT:

• La Salle will face the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m.
• The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be followed on the Live Stats broadcast.