WINTER PARK, Fla. -- The Old Dominion women's basketball team fell to Dayton, 77-69, in the final game of the Florida Sunshine Classic on Wednesday afternoon at Warden Arena.
"We are disappointed in the loss, of course," said head coach Karen Barefoot. "But, I could not be more proud of the way we played. There was passion out on that floor. Our team wanted it so bad. We poured it all out there. We gave everything we had."
Old Dominion (5-5, 0-0 C-USA) led by as many as 11 in the second quarter and carried a one-point lead into halftime, but Dayton (5-6, 0-1 A-10) used an 8-0 run late in the third quarter to pull away from the Lady Monarchs.
Jennie Simms led all scorers with 32 points to go along with nine rebounds, while Destinee Young posted her seventh double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Simms, despite playing with four fouls for the majority of the fourth quarter, recorded her third 30+ scoring game of the season.
In the first half, the Lady Monarchs shot 50 percent from the field as a team, as a MaKayla Timmons' bucket gave ODU a 31-20 lead early in the second quarter. However, the Flyers ended the half on a 16-6 run to close the gap to 37-36 at the half.
The Flyers continued their run into the second half, taking a brief 44-43 lead early in the third, but Keyana Brown answered with a big three to regain the lead for ODU. The Flyers responded with an 8-0 run to carry a 52-47 lead into the fourth. In the final quarter, ODU closed the gap to as little as four in the final four minutes, but Dayton held on for the victory.
"We really just ran out of time. They hit some big shots," said Barefoot. "They hit some really big shots at the right time for them to stretch it out. They are a solid team all the way around."
Brown and Odegua Oigbokie each added six points off the bench. ODU shot 43.5 percent as a team for the game, while holding Dayton to 36.5 percent. Dayton held a 47-34 advantage on the boards and connected on 26-of-32 free throw attempts.
Jenna Burdette led the Flyers with 25 points and Saicha Grant-Allen added a double-double with 17 points and 16 rebounds.
UP NEXT
ODU wraps up its non-conference slate at East Tennessee State (7-7) on Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. The Lady Monarchs then begin Conference USA play with Rice (8-2) on Dec. 30 and North Texas (3-7) on Jan. 1.