Dayton Edges Toledo Behind Big Effort From Cara Wright
Dec 28, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Jennifer Strong hit a pair of free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining to lift Dayton to a 79-77 victory over Toledo in the first round of the Tulane Women's Basketball Invitational on Wednesday evening at Fogelman Arena.
Dayton (7-3) will meet Samford in the Championship game on Thursday at 8 p.m. The Bulldogs defeated host Tulane in the opening round. Toledo will play the Green Wave in the consolation game at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Strong's clutch free throws capped a thrilling contest which featured 14 ties and 15 lead changes.
After Toledo (5-4) knotted the game at 77 on a Savannah Werner jumper with 17.8 seconds on the clock, Dayton worked the clock to seven seconds before calling its final timeout. After Toledo knocked a pass out-of-bounds, Dayton found Strong on the post. The junior head-faked twice before going up with the shot which came up short, but a foul was called. She swished both shots and a last-second 30-footer by Crystal Young was off the mark.
Dayton was led by senior forward Cara Wright, who scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Wright has been named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week for each of the last three weeks. Strong added 13 points and Kiki Lund had 11. For Toledo, Danielle Bishop scored 15, Lacey McNulty had 14 and Young tallied 12.
Dayton took a 69-66 lead with 4:17 to go on a Wright put back, but the Rockets rallied with five unanswered points for a 71-69 advantage at the two-minute mark.
Wright converted an old-fashioned three-point play inside to put Dayton back on top, but Bishop hit a pair of free throws to make it 73-72 for Toledo. Another three-point play for the Flyers, this time from Strong, made it 75-73, but Young ducked inside for the hoop and foul. Her missed foul shot left the score tied at 75 with 42.8 clicks remaining.
Dayton's Terri Ramsey used her eighth assists of the game to find Wright inside for another Flyer advantage, but Werner's jumpers evened it up, only to set up Strong's heroics.
