DAYTON, Ohio - Saint Joseph's got a combined 43 points from junior Sarah Fairbanks and senior Natasha Cloud, but it wasn't enough to overcome an early deficit as the Hawks fell at Dayton, 82-64, Sunday afternoon at UD Arena.
Dayton (19-5, 10-2 Atlantic 10) took control from the start, hitting 7-of-9 from the floor while holding the Hawks to 0-of-5 as the Flyers built a 16-3 advantage 5:57 into the contest.
The Flyers would extend their lead to as many as 20 points, but Saint Joseph's (8-16, 4-8 A-10) slowly chipped away as a Cloud found Ciara Andrews for a three-pointer to end the first half and bring SJU within 12, 44-32, at halftime.
Opening the second half with a 9-2 run, Dayton pushed its lead to 52-34 with 15:22 to play.
Saint Joseph's would cut Dayton's lead to 13 on an Andrews jumper with 11:14 to go, but that would be as close as the Hawks would get.
As a team, Saint Joseph's shot 20-of-58 from the field (34.5 percent), 1-of-9 from three-point range (11.1 percent), but converted 23-of-29 from the foul line (79.3 percent).
Individually, Fairbanks went 9-of-16 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the foul line for 22 points and added four rebounds, an assist and blocked a shot to move into sole possession of sixth place all-time at SJU with 81 career rejections. Cloud went 9-of-13 from the foul line and 6-of-14 from the field for 21 points and added a game-high four assists. Andrews was the only other Hawk in double figures, finishing with 13.
At the other end, Dayton shot 51.9 percent overall (28-of-54), hit 3-of-8 from three-point range (37.5 percent) and 23-of-28 from the foul line (82.1 percent). Andrea Hoover had a team-high 17 points to lead three Flyers in double figures.
Saint Joseph's returns to action Wednesday when it hosts George Mason at 7 p.m.
Game Notes: The Hawks were outrebounded 42-29 but finished with just nine turnovers to Dayton's 14...Rookie Adashia Franklyn finished with three points, four rebounds and two blocked shots...Classmate Chelsea Woods had two points and six rebounds...Graduate student Ashley Robinson had three points and a rebound...Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Jordan Strode each added a rebound...Mackenzie Rule and Candace Belvedere each played two minutes.
