Feb. 12, 2003

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Dukes at George Washington (15-6, 9-1)
Saturday, Feb. 15 - 7:00 pm - Washington, D.C. - Smith Center
on the web @ www.GWSports.com

The Series

Richmond holds a 2-1 edge in the all-time series, which began last season when the Spiders joined the Atlantic 10. Earlier this season, the Dukes fell to visiting Richmond 66-63 at the Palumbo Center.

George Washington holds a 37-4 lead in the all-time series - the longest rivalry for the Dukes in the A-10. Duquesne is 0-18 at the Smith Center and fell twice to the Colonials last season. The Colnials will visit the Palumbo Center on Thursday, February 27, 2003, for a 7:00 p.m. game to complete the 2003 home-home matchup.

Game Time

The Dukes are looking to expand on their three-game league winning streak with a pair of A- 10 contests on the road. A win at Richmond would match DU's league winning streak of four which last happened during the 2001 season. Richmond is 8-3 at home, which includes a 3-3 league mark, and has won three of its last four contests.

George Washington saw an end to its 11-game winning streak with a 4-OT loss at Xavier this past Sunday. The Colonials are 9-1 at home and boast a 4-0 league mark at the Smith Center. GW is also receiving votes in the Associate Press Top 25 poll.

About the Dukes

The Red & Blue won its third-straight with a 68-64 victory over visiting and A-10 East-leading Saint Joseph's this past Sunday. The win improved the Dukes' record to 8-3 at home, which guarantees its third-straight home winning season and the ninth in the past 10 years.

Candace Futrell continues to lead the Dukes' scoring with 19.6 ppg while Beth Friday posts a team-high 11.0 rebounds and adds 15.0 points per game. Shiri Sharon leads the offense with a league-best 6.8 assists per contest. Freshman Aiga Bautre leads the conference in three-point field accuracy; she's hitting 51.4 percent of her shots (36-70).

Sharon ranks 11th in the nation with 6.8 assists per game as is Friday in the rebounding at 11.0 rebounds per game.

The Dukes lead the league in two categories: rebounding defense (34.3 rpg) and blocked shots (4.24 bpg).

^ Redshirted 1999-2000 season
+ Redshirted 2001-2002 season

About the Spiders

Richmond dropped to 15-7 overall, 6-5 in the Atlantic 10 with a 61-59 loss at Dayton this past Sunday. The Spiders however, post an 8-3 home record.

Ebony Tanner leads three Spiders in double-figure scoring with 17.2 ppg. Kate Flavin adds 14.8 points and a team-best 10.4 rebounds while Amber Goppert averages 12.5 points per game. Richmond leads the league in assist/turnover ration (1.08).

About the Colonials

GW's quadruple overtime loss at Xavier this past Sunday snapped an 11-game winning streak for the Colonials and marked the longest game in A-10 and George Washington's history. The Colonials return home this week and hosted UMass prior to its tilt with the Dukes.

Cathy Joens leads the squad with 16.8 ppg followed by Uga Oha with 15.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. GW leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring (72.5), scoring margin (+12.2), FG% (.478), FG% defense (.368), assists (19.14) and defensive rebounds (26.86).

The Last Game

Dukes vs. Saint Joseph's: Duquesne improved to 13-8 overall, 6-4 in the Atlantic 10 with a 68-64 victory over visiting Saint Joseph's (14-8, 9-2) Sunday afternoon at the Palumbo Center. Candace Futrell led the Dukes with 18 points while Beth Friday added 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for her 46th career double-double. Shiri Sharon led the game with nine assists and added nine points. The win snapped a four-game winning streak for the Hawks, who continue hold first place in the Atlantic 10 East. Irina Krasnoshiok led SJU and the game with 21 points and she added 11 boards.

The game opened with two ties and five lead changes before a 7-0 Hawks' run gave them a 15-9 lead at 12:24. Aiga Bautre hit five of the Dukes' nine points in a 9-2 drive to grab an 18-17 edge at 6:54. Five lead changes followed and a three-point goal by Saint Joseph's gave the Hawks a 29-24 lead with 4:09 remaining. The teams traded goals and kept the game within a three-point reach before Futrell's lay-up with :03 to go put the Dukes within a 32-33 reach at the half.

The second frame saw much of the same with five lead changes to open play before SJU rattled off five unanswered points to take a 44-39 lead with 15:49 remaining. The Dukes followed suit with a 6-1 drive capped by Friday's bucket to tie the contest at 45-45 with 12:35 ticking. The Hawks regained a 49-45 lead on back-to-back goals before freshmen Kristin Kalervo and Nicole Sinclair scored within :32 to knot the game at 49-49. Sharon's three-point goal at 7:30 sparked an 8-2 run which gave DU a 57-53 margin with 5:25 ticking. Saint Joseph's would get within a 59-57 reach at 4:09, but Duquesne out-scored the Hawks 9-3 to grab the largest lead of the contest, 68-60, with :27 on the clock. St. Joe's hit two free throws and a put-back goal at 0:01 to end the game.

Duquesne held a commanding 40-28 lead in rebounding, which included 21 offensive boards. The Dukes shot .452 (28-62) for the game to SJU's .471 (24-51).

Friday the First

Beth Friday became the first Duquesne women's basketball player to grab 1,000 career rebounds with her second board at the 15:13 mark at Dayton Jan. 12. She posted a game-high 11 that Sunday and now has 1,085 over her not-yet-complete four seasons. She also has tallied 1,326 points, which gives her the distinction to be the first Duquesne and just the fourth Atlantic 10 player to register 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.

Friday joins George Washington's Darlene Saar (1,809 pts, 1,139 rbs) who competed from 1992 to 1995 and Rutgers' Sue Wicks (2,655 pts, 1,135 rbs) who played from 1985 to 1988. Jen Butler of UMass hit the mark this year and had 1,314 points and 1,177 rebounds entering this weekend.

The Pittsburgh native quickly took over the top of DU's career rebounding list six games into the season. With 922 boards entering the Towson game, Friday needed just seven rebounds to surpass Kathy Ridilla's mark of 928. Ridilla, a Duquesne Hall of Fame inductee, also posted 1,312 points from 1986-89.

Friday will also challenge Ridilla's senior class rebounding mark of 279 boards. Thus far, Friday has bettered each class' rebounding title as she grabbed 297 as a freshman, 298 as a sophomore and 271 last year as a junior. And through 21 games this season, the Upper St. Clair High School grad has pulled down 232 rebounds.

Friday is now in fourth place all-time among Duquesne scorers with 1,326 points. Next on the list in third place is Kris Sebastian who scored 1,374 points (1991-94).

She was named the Jan. 27 Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week with GW's Cathy Joens. Friday averaged a double-double with 20.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per game leading the Dukes to a 2-0 mark. On the week, she shot .610 (14-23) from the field and .667 (12-18) from the free throw line. Friday tied her career mark with 24 points vs. Fordham and grabbed a game-best 16 rebounds. Against St. Bonaventure, she posted 16 points and eight rebounds.

My Sharon-ah

Junior Shiri Sharon has been nearly perfect from the free throw line this season hitting 54 of her 68 attempts for an 79.4% accuracy. Her first miss was in the Pitt game where she was 7-8 overall from the charity stripe. She has seven perfect games from the free throw line to date.

Sharon also leads the Dukes and the Atlantic 10 with her 6.76 assists per game average. She dished out 12 assists in the Dukes' loss at Xavier marking a career high and a league single-game best. It was also the first time since Jan. 15, 1994 that a Duquesne player recorded 12 or more assists. The DU single-game mark is 15 set by Michelle Bouldin back on that date in 1994. Sharon also recorded 10 assists vs. James Madison.

Her season total is 142 assists entering today's contest. The Israeli native, with 455 assists in her non-yet completed three years, is currently in fourth place all-time at Duquesne; Becky Oglevee is in third place with 528 career assist during her career from 1983-86. Sharon also has 690 career points.

Futrell Back In The Saddle

Junior Candace Futrell, the team's leading scorer, was sidelined after an ankle injury she suffered in the first half of the Robert Morris game on Nov. 30. She made her return Jan. 10 at Xavier, hardly missing a beat. The 5-9 guard came off the bench to net 17 points shooting 7- 15 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line. She added three rebounds and an assist, before fouling out. Futrell is averaging a team-best 19.6 ppg which would lead the league except, since she missed eight games, she doesn't meet the requirement of playing in 75% of the schools' contests.

Next Up

Duquesne returns home for a three-game series which begins with a match-up with NCAA participant and defending A-10 champion Temple on Feb. 20. Tip-off is 7:05 pm. The Dukes will also host Xavier on Feb. 23 and conclude the home stanza with George Washington Feb. 27.

All home games can be heard over the internet at RedZoneMedia.com with Alex Panormios and Tad Maurey.