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MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Nov. 19, 2007) - Karah Cloxton hit a pair of free throws with 14 seconds remaining to lead the University of Dayton past the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team, 56-55, in UWM's home opener Monday evening at the Klotsche Center.

The Panthers (1-2) and Flyers (3-2) were locked in a defensive struggle as the game featured 11 ties and 13 lead changes.

"It's disappointing to be on the road, come home and lose a game," UWM head coach Sandy Botham said. "But, we knew Dayton was a good team. They are very balanced and have a lot of different ways they can score. We knew this was going to be a test for us and that it would come down to the wire. Something we emphasize and talk about is our attention to detail, doing the little things, and we just didn't do enough of it."

Cloxton provided the difference, scoring the game's last four points from the free throw line to help Dayton overcome a 55-52 UWM lead with 1:08 to play. The Panthers had a chance for the win as freshman Jineen Williams drove the baseline, only to see her lay up bounce out and Dayton come down with the rebound with one second to play.

"This will be a game I'll run through my head over and over--what play I could have run, defensively, and obviously the last play," Botham said. "They were just matching up with us. They switched to zone, but we still had opportunities to drive. The skips were still there. We had the same opportunities we had when they were in man. It just seemed to stymie us more. In retrospect, we could call timeout, look what's going on. But, they could have gone back to man, so it's just a chess match."

Junior Traci Edwards scored a game-high 22 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds to lead Milwaukee, while juniors Turquoise McCain and Jody Crumble added 10 points apiece.

Kiki Lund was the only Flyer in double digits, hitting five 3-pointers on the night to finish with 15 points. Kendel Ross added nine and Brittany Holterman eight as Dayton got 32 points from its bench.

Both teams struggled through cold shooting in the first half, as they combined to miss 24-straight field goal attempts over the last eight-plus minutes of the half. Milwaukee was eight for its first 14 attempts before missing 14-straight shots. Junior Turquoise McCain ended the stretch with a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to make it 24-24. UWM went into halftime shooting just 32.1%.

The Flyers, however, came out of the gates cold and struggled with 10-straight missed field goals to shoot 25% in the half. Lund ended that drought with a three just 21 seconds before intermission.

In the second half the shooting got marginally better, as UWM shot 39.3% to finish at 35.7% for the game. UD hit 37% of its shots after halftime to finish at 30.5%. The big differences were at the free throw line and behind the three-point line. The Flyers made 13-of-17 (76.5%) from the charity stripe on the night and 7-of-17 from downtown, compared to 57.9% (11-for-19) free throw shooting by the Panthers and just 10 three-point tries with four made.

Despite a size advantage in Dayton's favor, the Panthers were able to fight for a 46-37 advantage on the boards. Both teams had their fair chance to pull away, as there were 32 offensive boards in the game, including 18 by Milwaukee. The Flyers did manage to clog the lane and block seven shots in the game.

"Hustle plays are going to win games for us," Botham said. "We talked about it at halftime. Shots were not falling for either team. Nobody could really get into a great rhythm. We saw it even for most of the second half. It's doing the intangibles. Finding ways to win. Defensively, getting up and pressuring. Looking at the fact we had 18 offensive boards is pretty good, we just didn't finish."

Surprisingly, the Panther guards did a lot of damage inside, as 5-foot-8 senior Aubri Rote tied Edwards for game-high rebounding honors with eight and another senior guard, Meredith Onson, pulled down six. The Milwaukee back court also scored 16 of the team's 28 points in the paint.

UWM came out of the gates firing, building the game's largest lead at 10-3, but the Flyers fought back to tie the score at 14-14, the first of six ties in the opening frame. After halftime, it was Dayton that built a 41-36 lead at the 13:02 mark only to see Milwaukee score the next five points and tie it at 41-41 with 9:58 to play.

Neither team led by more than three the remainder of the game, leading to Cloxton's deciding free throws.

The Panthers now have a nine-day lay-off before returning to action Nov. 28 with a home game against Miami (Fla.). UWM and Miami tip off at 7 p.m. at the Klotsche Center.