Dec. 7, 2002
Duquesne senior Beth Friday scored 13 points, including the go-ahead basket on a layup with seven seconds left, as Duquesne (5-1) rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final six minutes to edge the Tigers, 41-38, at the Towson Center Saturday afternoon. Junior Shiri Sharon had a game-high 18 points, 16 of these in the second half. She also had five rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Friday, who made 6 of 11 shots from the floor, had a game high 11 rebounds to become Duquesne's career leader with 933 rebounds, passing Kathy Ridilla's mark of 928. Ridilla, a Duquesne Hall of Fame inductee, competed from 1986-89. Friday also recorded her 36th career double-double and with 1,087 career points is now in 9th place all time in scoring. She passed Kelly Eberhardt, who tallied 1,080 points from 1996 through 1999 and Gail Wilkins, who scored 1,083 points from 1995-97.
Friday scored six of the Dukes' points in the last minute and a half to give the Red and Blue the win, DU's fifth straight victory after an opening game loss to Ohio State. Sharon had two assists and two free throws in the same span of time.
With seven seconds left and the Dukes trailing by 39-38, Friday took an entry pass from junior guard Shiri Sharon on the left baseline and scored the go-ahead layup. After Towson's senior guard Mia Chapman missed an off-balance shot trying to give the Tigers the lead, Sharon was fouled with 0:00.2 seconds left and hit both free throws to put the Dukes ahead, 41-38.
The Dukes owned an early 4-3 lead in the first half and didn't have the lead again until seven seconds remained in the game. The Tigers held an 18-13 halftime lead, having led by as much as nine points in the first half. With 5:47 left in the game, a free throw by Chapman gave the Tigers a 34-27 lead. However, the Dukes responded with a 6-0 run and pulled to within 34-33 with 3:19 left on a steal and breakaway layup by Sharon.
Tiger senior Sandi Haefner, who scored a career high 11 points, upped the Tigers' lead to 36-33 when she nailed two clutch free throws with 1:56 remaining. A layup by Friday cut the lead to 36-35 with 1:36 remaining before Chapman hit a driving layup with 1:08 remaining to give Towson a 38-35 edge. With 59 seconds left, Friday scored off a pass by Sharon to pull the Dukes to within 38-37.
Senior Nikolina Pender added three assists and two steals. The Dukes, held to 20 percent shooting in the first half, improved their accuracy to 42.3 percent in the second half. Towson shot 23.4 percent for the game and took the rebounding edge 38 to 35.
Chapman led the Tigers with 15 points. She also added six rebounds and four assists. Haefner scored 11 points with six rebounds while Kyva Jones pulled down a team-best eight biards. Both teams were missing a couple players due to injurues . The Tigers were without senior forward Julie Russell and freshman guard LaShay Rose while Duquesne was missing two high scorers, junior Candace Futrell (20.5 ppg) and redshirt senior Khalihah Este-Sheu (16.0 ppg 2000-01).
The Dukes host Toledo on Monday, Dec. 9 at 7:05 pm at the Palumbo Center before taking an 11-day break for finals. This game is Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank Night. Anyone who brings in a nonperishable food item donation will get free admission into the game.
