March 1, 2003

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Game Time: Sunday marks the final regular season game for both Duquesne and UMass. The Dukes are coming off a loss to A-10 #1 seed George Washington while the Minutewomen saw an end to their fivegame losing skid with a 64-51 decision over visiting Fordham. UMass enters the game tied for third in the East Division standings of the A-10 while Duquesne is tied for fourth in the West.

About the Dukes

Duquesne had its Senior Night spoiled with a 74-68 loss to George Washington Thursday night, but it wasn't all bad as senior Beth Friday was surprised with the retiring of her #40 jersey prior to the tip. GW, the overall #1 seed for the A-10 tournament, entered the game with a +13.5 scoring margin which Duquesne cut in half with its six-point loss. Friday led the Dukes with 21 points and a game-best 11 rebounds while Candace Futrell added 17 points and Aiga Bautre 10 markers.

Futrell leads DU with 18.9 ppg and Friday is second with 15.0 ppg and first with 10.8 rpg. Sharon leads the Red & Blue and the Atlantic 10 with 6.96 assists per game. The Dukes are 2-5 in league play on the road, 5-7 overall.

Friday's Jersey Retired

For just the second time in Duquesne University's 28 years of women's basketball, the Department of Athletics honored one of its athletes by retiring her jersey in the home season finale Feb. 27. Beth Friday will be forever remembered with the unveiling of her #40 jersey. She stands as one of the most decorated athletes in the University's history and is the only Duquesne women's basketball player and just the fourth in the Atlantic 10 to record 1,000 career points and rebounds.

Friday ended the night versus George Washington with 21 points and a game-best 11 rebounds for her 49th career doubledouble. She is the Dukes' all-time leading rebounding with 1,148 boards and third all-time in scoring with 1,400 points.

"It's incredible," said Friday. "You can't get a bigger honor from a school and to have it happen on your Senior Night is even more special." A 2002 first team All-Conference selection,

Friday is also first in the Duquesne records books in career field goal percentages (.523), third with 144 blocks and tied for 5th with her 12.4 points per game average.

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

About the Minutewomen

Massachusetts looks to take a victory on Senior Day hosting the Dukes in the season finale. UMass snapped a five-game losing skid with a 64-51 decision over Temple this past Thursday. Jen Butler led the game with 21 points and 19 rebounds, 10 of which were offensive. She also swiped five steals. Nekole Smith added 14 points in the win.

Butler paces the Minutewomen with averages of 17.1 points and 14.5 rebounds, which is tops in the Atlantic 10. Her rebounding average also ranks first in the NCAA among Division I players. UMass boasts a 9-3 record at home, which includes a 4-3 Conference mark.

The Series

Massachusetts holds an 18-13 lead in the all-time series with the Dukes. They first met in 1984 and Duquesne has won the past two meeting, but fell in four-straight before that. The Dukes are 2-11 on the road vs. the Minutewomen. They last met in Amherst Feb. 11, 2001 with UMass taking a 55-47 advantage. The last road win for the Dukes was a 70-59 victory back on Jan. 8, 1992.

This the second time the teams have met in a TV game, the first was the initial televised game for the Dukes on Feb. 19, 1994 - DU won 64-61.

Last Time vs. UMass

Duquesne defeated visiting Massachusetts 60-47 Jan. 17, 2002 at the A.J. Palumbo Center. Candace Futrell led the game and Duquesne with 16 points while adding eight rebounds. Duquesne got 10 points each from Oxana Shetko, Shiri Sharon and Nikolina Pender. Shetko led the Dukes with nine rebounds. UMass was led by Jennifer Butler with 12 points and a game-best 21 rebounds, which established a new A.J. Palumbo Center record for an opponent.

Duquesne grabbed a 14-9 lead at the 12:15 mark in the first half on a 7-0 run but saw two ties before UMass grabbed a 20-19 edge with 6:48 ticking. Duquesne hit back-to-back three-point goals for a 25-20 advantage before an 8-0 UMass run gave the visitor a 28-25 lead - their largest of the game. Shetko tied the game at 28-28 on a trey with 1:23 ticking and gained a 30-28 edge as Jade Timol hit a jumper with :35 on the clock. UMass knotted the game for the seventh time hitting two free throws with :20 to go for the 30-30 halftime score.

The Minutewomen scored early in the second frame for their only lead at 32-30 with 19:14 on the clock. The Dukes out-scored UMass 15-4 led by Pender's eight points over the next 5:24 for a 45-36 lead - their largest of the game. Massachusetts got within a three-point reach (45-48) on a 9-3 run at the 5:10 mark, but Duquesne closed out the game on a 12-2 run netting their final points from their free throw line (12-of-15) for the final.

UMass won the rebounding battle 50-33, giving them more rebounds than points in the contest.

In the Latest NCAA Statistics Released Feb. 24

Junior Shiri Sharon ranks 9th with 6.9 assists per game and senior Beth Friday is 12th with 10.8 rebounds per game.

The Last Game ... Dukes vs. GW

Duquesne lost a 74-68 decision to George Washington, the A-10's #1 seed, Thursday night at the Palumbo Center. It was senior night as the Dukes' seven veterans where honored prior to the game - Beth Friday, Selma Delibasic, Nikolina Pender, Khalihah Este-Shehu, Jade Timol, Andrea Eaton and Brooke Egleston.

Beth Friday led Duquesne with 21 points and a game-best 11 rebounds for her 49th career double-double. Friday also had the honor of having her jersey retired prior to the start of the game. Candace Futrell added 17 points and Aiga Bautre chipped in 10. Shiri Sharon led the game with eight assists. Cathy Joens led the Colonials and the game with 27 points.

George Washington took a 20-6 lead midway through the first half after a 13-2 scoring drive over a five-minute span. The Dukes answered that with a 12-2 run of their own to cut the lead to a 22-18 on a three-point field goal by senior Khalihah Este-Shehu. Joens' three-pointer at 5:34 extended GW's lead to 29-20, but Nicole Sinclair's put-back sparked a 9-4 run for the Dukes, which cut the lead to a 33-29 Colonial advantage with 2:09 to go. GW hit two of four free throws for a 39-35 edge but Bautre's jumper got the Dukes within four at 35-31 at the break.

Friday scored the Dukes' first nine points of the second frame to chip away at the lead and bring the lead to just one 41-40 at 14:22. Joens hit another three-pointer to increase GW's lead to 52-44 at 9:27. Sharon's three-point play sparked a 10-3 Duquesne drive, which once again get the Dukes to a one-point reach (54-55), but they would not see a lead. A 9-2 George Washington drive extended their lead to 64-56 with 4:33 to go, but the Dukes never gave up and brought the game to 61-64 on goals by Bautre and Friday and a free throw from Sharon. Joens made two free throws to extend the spread to 68- 61 with 1:05 ticking. Friday would twice get the Dukes' within three points afterward, but George Washington connected on three of four free throws to end the game and secure the win.

Friday the First

Beth Friday, whose jersey was retired Thursday, 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 1,148 over her four seasons. She also has tallied 1,400 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. Today's opponent, Jen Butler of UMass, also hit the mark this year and has 1,399 points and 1,257 rebounds going into the regular season finale.

Friday grabbed the senior class rebounding mark with her 11 rebounds against GW. She now has 282 boards. She also 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 this week, Friday was named a 2003 Verizon District II Women's Basketball Academic All-American. She boasts a 3.70 GPA in accounting. It is her second Verizon honor as she was named a District II selection last year. The Pittsburgh native 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 while she shot .610 (14-23) from the field and .667 (12-18) from the free throw line.

My Sharon-ah

Junior Shiri Sharon has been nearly perfect from the free throw line this season hitting 63 of her 83 attempts for a 75.9% 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 6.96 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.

Her season total is 181 assists entering today's contest. The Israeli native, with 494 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 assists during her career from 1983-86. Sharon also has 728 career points.

Futrell Close to 1,000:

Junior Candace Futrell enters the contests with 977 points and needs just 23 to become the 16th 1,000-point scorer at Duquesne. It could happen this year. Futrell averages 18.9 ppg and the Dukes have today's match-up and at least one A-10 tournament contest remaining. She would need to average 11.5 points per game to hit the mark. If so, she will be just the fourth junior to accomplish this feat as Beth Friday, Darcie Vincent and Kris Sebastian each did as well. The quickest to 1,000 points was Korie Hlede who hit the mark as a sophomore.

Next Up

The 2003 Atlantic 10 Championships will be held at Rhode Island's Ryan Center in Kingston, RI from Thursday March 6th through Saturday March 8th with the final game at the campus of the higher seed on Monday, March 10th at 5:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Duquesne and Dayton are tied for fourth place in the West Division with identical 7-8, 14-12 records. The Flyers host Xavier (18-8, 10-5) Sunday at 2 p.m. The Dukes and Flyers each won their home contest.

Duquesne's opponent could be Fordham (14-14, 5-10), UMass or Rhode Island (13-14, 5-11) depending on Sunday's final games (URI completed their season Saturday with a loss to La Salle (58-53).