St. Joe’s women fall in late comeback push against Dayton, drop second straight loss
The Hawks played from behind for nearly the entire game, and despite a late shooting push by Gabby Casey, Dayton handed St. Joe’s a critical Atlantic 10 loss.
St. Joseph’s trailed Dayton by as many as 11 points early in the fourth quarter after the Flyers shot 90% from the field in the third. But the Hawks didn’t fold, trimming the deficit and setting up a late push.
Guards Gabby Casey and Jill Jekot pulled the Hawks within three points with four minutes to play, but Dayton answered back. Casey’s basket made it a two-point game with 25 seconds left, but St. Joe’s couldn’t get any closer.
Dayton (13-11, 6-7 Atlantic 10) came up with a stop and made timely free throws in the final seconds to beat St. Joe’s (15-8, 6-6), 75-73, and hand the Hawks their second straight loss.
“I thought our defense really failed us today,” said St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin. “It’s no discredit to Dayton, I thought they came in and shot the ball really well. We put ourselves in a position where we gave up way too many threes to start the game and we were playing catch-up again. That’s kind of been our thing the last couple of games in our losses.”
Statistical leaders
Casey guided the Hawks with 29 points on 12-for-20 shooting, with 13 coming in the final 10 minutes. Forward Faith Stinson added 11 points.
» READ MORE: After its Big Three moved on, St. Joe’s women’s basketball leadership has a decidedly Philly flair
Guards Nicole Stephens and Jayda Johnson led Dayton with 18 and 15 points, respectively. The Flyers’ offense shot 54.9% from the field and went 9-for-19 from deep.
What we saw
Dayton built an 18-12 lead near the end of the first quarter, but the Hawks pulled within one point at the start of the second. The Flyers held the lead for nearly the entire second half before St. Joe’s finally pulled even at 31 with a layup from Casey.
Dayton took a 35-33 lead at the half after a jumper in the final seconds from guard Nayo Lear.
The Flyers opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run to take a 45-35 lead before the Hawks trimmed the deficit to three.
Dayton pushed its lead to 11 after two straight three-pointers and opened the third quarter by hitting its first six shots, taking a comfortable nine-point lead into the fourth.
St. Joe’s made it a game again in the final five minutes behind six points from Casey, pulling within three several times before Dayton answered each push.
“We showed a lot of resolve today. I think we competed and were right there at the end,” Griffin said. “But we’ve proven that we have to play from ahead. It’s tough for us to play from behind and we haven’t been overly successful in that area.”
Clutch play
With about two minutes left, St. Joe’s trailed, 69-66, and had momentum after holding a 10-3 edge on the offensive glass through three quarters. But Dayton came up with two key offensive rebounds late, including a putback by Flyers center Fatima Ibrahim off a Stephens miss that kept the Hawks from tying.
On the Flyers’ next possession, Stephens missed a three-pointer, but Ibrahim was there for the putback and the free throw to make it a two-possession game again. Her two offensive rebounds gave Dayton three second-chance points in the Flyers’ two-point win.
“You look at it and they only had five offensive rebounds and we won the second chance points battle, but they got the timely ones,” Griffin said. “I think that was really a deal breaker.”
Up next
The Hawks will host George Washington (13-11, 5-6) on Wednesday (11 a.m., ESPN+).