Coming off a 30-point loss against Richmond on Sunday, the Massachusetts women’s basketball team held steady with Dayton throughout much of Wednesday’s contest, but early foul trouble came back to bite the Minutewomen (7-8, 2-2 Atlantic 10) in the fourth quarter, as they ultimately lost 67-64.

For the last few minutes of the contest, UMass was consistently down a possession, never seeming like it could capitalize even as the Flyers (9-6, 3-1 A-10) struggled in the later parts of the final quarter, going nearly four and a half minutes without connecting on a field goal. With time winding down, the shot clock turned off and the Minutewomen down four, a screen set by Megan Olbrys gave Allie Palmieri just enough time to get off a 3-pointer that found nothing but net which brought UMass within one.

On the ensuing inbound play, Dayton found an open player who was eventually fouled by Olbrys, her fifth of the game. Rikki Harris knocked down both shots from the charity stripe and the Minutewomen missed their ensuing 3-pointer, leaving Ohio .500 in conference play.

UMass found itself in foul trouble early, with both Stefanie Kulesza and Olbrys being on the bench for much of the first half with two fouls a piece. While Kulesza ultimately didn’t foul out, it effected the aggressiveness of the Minutewomen paint defense in the later stages of the game. Both Kulesza and Olbrys played the majority of the fourth quarter with four fouls, while Chinenye Odenigbo picked up three fouls in the final 10 minutes, thinning the UMass frontcourt even more.

The Flyers took full advantage of the foul trouble that UMass was in, as in the fourth quarter, all seven of its made shots came in the paint. Dayton finished with 28 total points in the paint for the game, as outside of the fourth quarter, it struggled to make shots inside the painted area. A multitude of players saw the floor for the Minutewomen on Wednesday night due to the aforementioned foul trouble.

Ten players saw the floor for UMass, a stark difference from its normal seven-to-eight woman rotation. Only two players saw over 30 minutes on the floor for the Minutewomen, those being Palmieri and Yahmani McKayle. Due to the frontcourt foul trouble, Olbrys, Odenigbo and Kulesza all played less than 27 minutes.

McKayle continued her excellent off-the-bench performances, as she led UMass in scoring with 18 points and in steals with five. In addition to her points and steals, she added three rebounds and three assists. Palmieri finished as the teams second leading scorer, finishing with 15 points, two rebounds, two assists, and a block.

It was a similar story for the Flyers, as only two of their players scored in double digits, those two being Arianna Smith with 17 points, and Ivy Wolf with 26. The Minutewomen did an excellent job limiting the number of made shots from the opposition, as the highest field goal percentage from an individual player on Dayton was 50 percent which came from Smith. The Flyers as a whole shot 38.6 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from 3.

Free throws is where all the difference was made, as Dayton connected on 17 free throws to UMass’ eight. While the Minutewomen’s shots from the charity stripe fell at a higher clip than the Flyers (80 percent to 77.3), Dayton took 12 more free throws in a game that was ultimately decided by three points.

The Minutewomen are next in action on Sunday, Jan. 12, taking on St. Bonaventure for the first time this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. from New York, and the game can be viewed on ESPN+.

Johnny Depin can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Jdepin101.