DAYTON, Ohio – The Saint Joseph's women's basketball team reversed recent fortunes against the Dayton Flyers on Saturday afternoon, defeating the hosts 74-62 inside UD Arena.
 
The Hawks have now won back-to-back games, moving back up to 7-5 in conference play and a 17-7 record overall. Dayton falls to 4-19 on the year, 3-9 in the A-10.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Flyers opened with a quick three pointer, Taisiya Kozlova tallying the first five points for the hosts. Back and forth through the opening media, Dayton carved out an 11-8 advantage.
• Trailing by as many as five, the Hawks recorded threes from Katie Jekot and Olivia Mullins on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to one. A 5-0 run to finish the quarter, capped by a triple from Laura Ziegler, gave the edge to St. Joe's with a 19-17 lead.
• An 8-2 run from the Flyers regained possession of the lead for Dayton, pushing the advantage to 27-21 early in the second quarter.
• With the lead still at six for Dayton with four minutes remaining in the half, the Hawks slowly chipped away. Two layups from Talya Brugler cut the lead to two before the Flyers responded with a basket of their own. Ziegler countered with her second three-pointer of the game before a pair of Brugler free throws with a second remaining capped a second-straight 5-0 run to end a quarter, giving St. Joe's a 34-33 lead headed into the break.
• Brugler opened the second half with seven-straight points for the Hawks, helping grow the lead to four. Mackenzie Smith grabbed five-in-a-row after finishing at the rim, the Hawks leading 46-42 at the media timeout of the third quarter.
• Smith would end the quarter with 10 of the final 12 points for the Hawks, giving them a 53-47 lead after three.
• Julia Nyström started the fourth with back-to-back triples, quickly extending the Hawk lead to double-digits for the first time at 59-47.
• In back-to-back possessions, the Flyers cut the lead back to single-digits before the Hawks responded with an answer, including a deep uncontested three from Jekot.
• The Crimson and Gray were able to keep the cushioned lead, walking out of UD Arena with their first win in the last 10 attempts.

 
GAME NOTES

• The win disrupted 10-straight wins in the series for Dayton. The Hawks also reversed 19-year drought of winning in Dayton, having lost nine-straight since their win on January 18, 2004.
• All five starters finished in double-digits, the first time the Hawks had five 10+ scorers since December 13, 2020 against Lincoln.
• Katie Jekot surpassed Ashley Prim (417) on the SJU all-time assist leaderboard, her five assists pushing her to 419 in her career.
• Talya Brugler led the Hawks with a game-high 19 points on 8-16 shooting. The sophomore added two steals and three assists to her day.
• Laura Ziegler has continued a double-double rampage, collecting her sixth on the season and third in the last four games. Ziegler finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, the fourth-straight game for the rookie finishing with 10+ rebounds.
• Jekot finished with 11 points to go along with her five assists, sitting four points shy of surpassing Audrey Codner (1990-94) for 19^th place in the all-time scoring ranks.
• Olivia Mullins added 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists to her day, continuing her best season to date in the Crimson and Gray.
• Mackenzie Smith recorded her first career double-double in the win, finishing with 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Smith added three assists on the day.
• The Hawks had two players with a double-double for the first time since January 29, 2018 against La Salle, both Adashia Franklin and Amanda Fioravanti tallying double-doubles.
• The Hawks finished 29-74 from the field, shooting just 39.2%. St. Joe's added a season-high 32 three-point attempts, collecting on 11 for a 34.4% clip. The 11 threes tied a season-high.
• The Flyers posted a 23-55 (41.8%) effort from the floor, a 4-14 (28.6%) clip from distance. The Hawks were able to win the battle on the glass 43-37 against the conference's best rebounding team.
• The 20-10 margin in offensive rebounds for SJU led to a 19-6 advantage in second-chance points.

 
UP NEXT

• The Hawks continue their road trip with a midweek showdown against Davidson. The meeting with the Wildcats is set for a 7 p.m. showdown on February 15.