“It was a strange first half,” said Flyers senior Justine Raterman, who scored 21 points to lead UD to a 69-60 win over the Eagles. “You would think after being on the road for so long that when we came home our shots would be falling and we’d be feeling good. When you have a couple of missed shots, you would think that you’d want the ball back, but we were hesitant and questioning ourselves.”
The Flyers (4-3) missed their first three shots and were just 2-of-8 when Raterman tied the score at 5-5. UD led 27-23 at halftime despite hitting just 11 of 30 shots.
Using a stifling defense and better shooting, the Flyers pushed the lead to 16 (61-45) with 4:05 left in the game behind eight points from freshman Andrea Hoover — including a 3-point play that began when she stepped in front of a BC pass and went the distance for a lay-in and the foul.
“We will have a great run and then we lose focus,” said Hoover, who had 13 points and seven rebounds. “We want the game to be one big run for us.”
The Eagles, however, cut the deficit to four (64-60) with 35 seconds left before Dayton closed it out with a pair of free throws by Hoover and a basket at the buzzer by Patrice Lalor.
“We are excited about the win,” Raterman said. “We see some of the great things we do, but we are never going to be satisfied with the way we are playing right now. They kept fighting back and I think we can learn from them. We need to get some of the edge back.”
The Flyers won the battle of the boards 40-35 and finished the game hitting 40 percent from the floor, but coach Jim Jabir knows they will have to get better before his squad hits the road again.
“I am not happy with where we are,” Jabir said. “We are not playing at the high level we can play at. We had a 16-point lead and stopped playing defense. We are not putting it all together. We get timid, uncertain and are not physical at times; I hope we are not like this all year.”
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