DAYTON, Ohio – Lorreal Jones and Desirae Ball combined for 24 points in Saint Louis’ 72-54 Atlantic 10 Conference loss to Dayton Saturday afternoon at UD Arena.
Jones scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and she tied for game-high honors with eight rebounds. Ball was 5-of-10 from the field and finished with 11 points.
Mallory Eggert recorded eight points (4-of-8 FG) and a game-high-tying eight rebounds for the Billikens, who earned a 41-33 advantage on the glass. Five of Eggert’s rebounds came on the offensive boards. Kim Bee collected six rebounds, while Janisha Gearlds led SLU with six assists.
The Billikens shot 46.2 percent from the field, their best mark in an A-10 game this season, to Dayton’s 42.4 percent. But the Flyers buried eight 3-pointers (8-of-17) to just one for the Bills.
Patrice Lalor and Andrea Hoover scored a game-high 14 points apiece, and Casey Nance added 11 for Dayton (18-6, 10-2 A-10). Lalor chalked up a game-high nine assists, while Olivia Applewhite tied for game-high honors with eight rebounds.
Saint Louis (9-18, 3-9 A-10), which trailed by seven points at intermission, narrowed the gap to five points twice early in the second half. But the Billikens suffered eight consecutive empty possessions, and Dayton capitalized with a 9-0 run for a 46-32 lead.
Saint Louis recovered with baskets by Morgan Johnson, Eggert and Gearlds to slice the UD advantage to 48-38. However, Hoover’s four-point play sparked a 10-0 Dayton spurt that gave the Flyers a 58-38 lead and firm command.
After Dayton pulled out to a 9-4 lead, Saint Louis used Jones’ jumper and three buckets by Ball to cut the Flyers’ advantage to 13-12.
Dayton rang up 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions in an 11-1 flurry that gave the Flyers their largest lead of the first half, 24-13. But UD followed with six straight non-scoring possessions, and SLU made it a 26-20 game on Courtney Webb’s 3-pointer, Ball’s baseline jumper and Bee’s layup.
The Flyers scored the next five points to restore an 11-point cushion, 31-20, with 1:14 remaining. The Billikens put together a strong finish, however, as Jones sank two free throws and Webb hit a running bank shot to narrow the gap to 31-24 at the break.
Saint Louis plays its final home game of the season Wednesday, Feb. 22, when Charlotte comes to Chaifetz Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Leave a Reply