Dayton Dayton/Xavier Xavier Women's College Basketball recap on ESPN

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Taru Tuukkanen scored 22 points as No. 12 Xavier advanced to its third straight Atlantic 10 Conference championship game by defeating Dayton 80-71 Sunday for its 17th straight victory.

Nicole Levandusky scored 17 points, Jennifer Phillips had 15 and Reeta Piipari 11 for the top-seeded Musketeers (27-2), the defending conference champions who also took the regular-season title.

Chrissy Donovan scored 14 points, Kristy Hineline and Alena Martens 12 each and Cyndi Stull 11 for the fourth-seeded Flyers (16-13), who had won three straight games. They lost to Xavier for the third time this season.

Dayton kept it close in the second half, getting within four points in the early going and as near as 61-56 with 8:42 left. But Xavier scored the next 10 points to open up its biggest lead of the game, and the Flyers were unable to get close thereafter.

Xavier shot the ball well, making 30-of-54 (56 percent), and played solid defense, forcing 20 turnovers by Dayton.

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Women's College Basketball Scoreboard

Dayton Clubhouse

Xavier Clubhouse