Neither team gained a decided advantage in the first half until Wright hit a jumper in the lane for her 12th point in less than 12 minutes to put Dayton ahead 17-16 with 9:28 left. From there, the rest of the Flyers caught up and built a 23-18 lead less than three minutes later. However, Saint Joseph's went on a 12-0 run over the next 2:18 and outscored Dayton 15-6 for the remainder of the half to take a 38-29 lead into halftime.

Gomez led the Hawks with 14 first-half points on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc to give SJU the lead heading into the locker room despite a UD advantage in shooting (48 percent to 39 percent) and rebounding (18-15). Turnovers also proved to be the difference as the Hawks led 14-0 in points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

UD on 9-2 run over 4:02 to close with nine with 11:48 left to play. The run led to a stretch in which the Flyer defense held the Hawks without a field goal for 6:28. SJU hit 12 free throws during that time while UD scored its next seven points from the charity stripe for a 59-47 Saint Joseph's lead with 9:32 remaining.

From there the Dayton offense got hot again and used a 12-2 run to pull within a pair at 61-59 with 3:58 left. Oakland had seven points to lead the Flyer charge to pull Dayton within two.

Saint Joseph's then made four free throws over the next 3:20 before Dayton answered with a three from Cloxton for a 64-62 SJU advantage. Another Hawks' free throw made it a three-point game with 26 seconds left on the clock. Dayton came down the court and found Lund on the left wing for her only trey of the game with 16.2 seconds remaining to knot the score at 65-all.

The Hawks broke through the full court press and found Ffrench who was fouled while going for a layup. She hit the first free throw and missed the second, but a three-point shot from Cloxton fell short and Saint Joseph's survived 66-65.