Scaife leads Dayton past Ashland in exhibition

Flyers pull away in fourth quarter after back-and-forth game

The Dayton Flyers women’s basketball team pulled away from Ashland University in the final two minutes to win 77-67 in an exhibition game Friday.

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It was the first event at UD Arena since the completion of the major renovations in the third and final phase of the three-year, $76.2 million project. The Flyers will play their regular-season opener at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Lipscomb.

Ashland, a two-time national champion (2013 and 2017) in Division II and the eighth-ranked team in the country entering the season, trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half but rallied to take a 54-53 lead into the fourth quarter.

Jayla Scaife, who led the team with 28 points on 10-of-22 shooting, made three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter to give Dayton a 62-54 lead. Ashland’s Sarah Hart made a jump shot with 3:26 to play, cutting Dayton’s lead to 63-61.

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Then baskets by Erin Whalen and Kyla Whitehead in the next minute pushed Dayton’s lead to 67-61. Ashland got no closer than four points in the final two minutes.

Araion Bradshaw, Jayla Scaife, Shakeela Fowler, Julia Chandler and Whitehead started for Dayton. Fowler scored 14 points. Bradshaw had 12, and Whitehead had 11. Jenna Giacone led the reserves with three points in 20 minutes.

The Flyers forced 23 turnovers while committing 14 and made 22 of 30 free throws. Ashland shot 44 percent from the field. Dayton shot 36 percent.

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