Feb. 20, 2003

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The Series

Temple holds a 20-10 lead in the all time series which dates back to 1984. The Dukes are 5- 10 when hosting the Owls and are 3-1 at the Palumbo Center in the past four meetings. Last year, Duquesne fell 77-59 during the regular season and 78-50 to the eventual A-10 champions in the first round of the Conference championship.

Game Time

Duquesne looks to rebound from two road losses this past week and begins a three-game home stand with Temple. The Owls last defeated Dayton at home and look for their second-straight league win. Entering the week, Duquesne stood fourth in the West Division of the Atlantic 10 while Temple was second in the East standings.

About the Dukes

Duquesne suffered two road losses this past week at Richmond and George Washington and stands 13-10 overall, 6-6 in Atlantic 10 play.

Candace Futrell leads the Dukes with 18.9 ppg followed by Beth Friday's 14.6 ppg. Friday tops the team and is second in the A-10 with 10.7 rpg. Shiri Sharon leads the Conference with 6.9 assists per game. Duquesne is 8-3 at home, which includes a 4-1 league mark. The only home loss in A-10 action was to Richmond.

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

About the Owls

Temple, the defending Atlantic 10 champions and 2002 NCAA participant, improved to 9-14, 5-7 in the league with a 63-51 victory over visiting Dayton this past Saturday. Stacey Smalls led three Owls in double figures with 17 points and added a team-best nine rebounds.

Smalls leads Temple with 13.1 ppg. Khadija Bowens is second with 11.2 ppg while Candice Dupree averages 10.4 ppg and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per contest. Head Coach Dawn Staley is also a member of the WNBA's Charlotte Sting.

Temple went 20-11 last year and was 12-4 in Conference play.

Recently... Dukes at Richmond

Duquesne dropped an 81-66 decision at Richmond Feb. 13. Candace Futrell led four Dukes in double figure scoring with 15 points followed by Shiri Sharon with 13, Beth Friday with 12 and Aiga Bautre with 11. Sharon led the game with nine assists while Friday led the Dukes with seven rebounds. Kate Flavin led Richmond and the game with 20 points and 16 rebounds.

Richmond took an early 10-2 edge in the first half before a 9-3 Duquesne drive cut the margin to a 16-17 reach at the 11:00 mark. Richmond came on strong and executed a 20-3 run for a 34-19 advantage at 3:03. Erin Wehrle's goal at 2:43 snapped a six-minute scoring drought for the Dukes, but the closest they would come to a lead would be 28-41 at 1:20. Richmond held a 43-28 lead at the break.

The Spiders held a 52-35 advantage with 16:39 to go in the second frame before Aiga Bautre and Sharon concluded a 19-5 Duquesne drive with back-to-back three-point goals to put the game within a 54-57 reach at 10:19. But Richmond hit six unanswered points for a 63-54 edge at 6:55 and the Dukes went scoreless for over five minutes before Futrell's three-point basket put the game at a 63-57 Richmond advantage. Richmond would hit 17 of 19 free throws and two field goals afterward. Friday hit two field goals and Jade Timol hit a basket at :24 before the 81-66 final.

Richmond held a 51- 35 advantage on the boards and shot .443 (27-61) to the Dukes' .371 (26-70) from the field.

The Last Game ... Dukes at George Washington

Duquesne's women's basketball team ran into a hot George Washington Feb. 15 at the Smith Center as the Red and Blue dropped a 95-63 decision to the first place Colonials. Duquesne was led by Candace Futrell's 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. Beth Friday had a game-high eight rebounds while junior Shiri Sharon dished out a game-high seven assists.

DU held their last lead at 6-5 until a three-pointer by Cathy Joens gave the Colonials their first lead of 8-6 at 15:41 of the opening stanza. GW extended the lead to 25-at 10:21 with 12 of those points coming on three-point field goals. With the score at 38-25, Duquesne ran off five straight points bringing the deficit down to 39-31. GW held a 45-32 edge at the break.

Duquesne came out strong after intermission hitting the first five points to cut the edge to 45-37 on Erin Wehrle's jump shot at 18:27. The Colonials and the Dukes exchanged baskets until GW upped their lead to 56-42. GW went on a 25-4 run to extend its lead to 81-46 at 7:02 making use of seven offensive rebounds, some strong defense and DU's inability to get the ball to drop. The run was finally ended at 4:49 when DU's Aiga Bautre hit a three to start a 10-0 run to bring the deficit down to 81-56. The Colonials out-scored DU down the stretch 12-9.

Duquesne shot 47.1 percent from the floor, and 41.2 percent from behind the arc, while the Colonials shot 55.0 percent and 38.9 percent from three-point range. GW out-rebounded the Dukes 35-29.

Comparatively Speaking

Here is how Duquesne and Temple compare statistically.

Last Time vs. Temple

The Dukes dropped a 78-50 decision to the Owls in the opening round of the 2002 Atlantic 10 championship. Candace Futrell led the Dukes with 18 points, which included an 11-12 effort from the free throw line. Beth Friday and Nikolina Pender each grabbed six rebounds. Temple's Natalie Isaac led the game with 26 points.

Temple held a 43-35 lead at the break and a 36-35 edge in rebounding for the game. Neither team shot well as the Dukes hit just .316 (12-38) from the floor to Temple's .400 (24-60). Duquesne did connect on 24-32 (.750) shots from the charity stripe.

In the Latest NCAA Statistics (Released Feb. 17)

Junior Shiri Sharon ranks 10th with 6.9 assists per game and senior Beth Friday is 14th with 10.7 rebounds per game.

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 1,113 over her not-yet-complete four seasons. She also has tallied 1,346 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 1,344 points and 1,210 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 23 games this season, the Upper St. Clair High School grad has pulled down 247 rebounds, 32 away from Ridilla's senior mark.

Friday is now in fourth place all-time among Duquesne scorers with 1,346 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 55 of her 70 attempts for a 78.6% 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 6.9 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 158 assists entering today's contest. The Israeli native, with 471 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.

Next Up

Duquesne hosts Xavier (17-7, 9-4) on Sunday Feb. 23 in a 2:00 pm tip. The Dukes will be looking to avenge a 57-65 road loss to the Musketeers earlier this season.