March 6, 2003

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Game Time

The Dukes face their second opponent of the A-10 tournament while George Washington will compete in its first after receiving a first round bye. Duquesne is seeded #5 in the West while George Washington is the overall #1 seed in the tournament. The winner will play at 4:00 pm on Saturday afternoon. That game will be televised by the A10-TV network.

About the Dukes

For the third straight year, the Dukes took a victory in the opening round of the A-10 championship with its 60-52 win over #4 East seed Fordham Thursday afternoon. The win marked the first time since 1985 since the Dukes defeated a higher seed in the tournament. The other was in 1992 with a win over #1 seeded WVU. Candace Futrell leads the Red & Blue in scoring with 19.5 ppg entering the championship. Beth Friday brought a 14.4 ppg average into the series and a team-best 10.8 rebounds.

The Series

George Washington holds a 40-4 lead in the all-time series with Duquesne - the longest running rivalry of any Duquesne opponent. Earlier this year, the Dukes dropped a 95-63 decision at GW and a 68-74 decision at the Palumbo Center. The Dukes are 1-5 when facing the Colonials in the Atlantic 10 Championship. They last met in the tourney in 2001 with #2 seed GW taking a 71-61 victory over #7 seed Duquesne.

2003 Post Season Honors

Two Dukes have been named the 2003 Atlantic 10 All-Conference team as selected by the league head coaches. Senior forward Beth Friday (14.4 ppg, 10.6) has been named a first-team All-Atlantic 10 pick for the second-straight year while junior Candace Futrell 19.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg) earns her second All-Conference accolade being named to the third team. Friday also has been named to the Academic All-Conference team and was chosen the academic Student-Athlete of the Year as voted upon by the Conference Athletic Media Relations Directors. It is Friday's third academic all-conference honor; she boasts a 3.70 GPA in accounting.

In the Latest NCAA Statistics Released March 3

Shiri Sharon ranks 9th with 7.0 assists per game and Beth Friday is 16th with 10.6 rebounds per game.

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

About the Colonials

George Washington ended its regular season with a 21-6 record with a 64-51 victory over visiting Richmond Mar. 2. Cathy Joens, the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, leads the Colonials with 17.9 ppg and added 3.4 assists a contest. Ugo Oha adds 14.7 points and a team-best 6.3 rebounds. The Colonials, who earned a bye last year as well, will look to avenge its 67-64 loss to #5 West seed Xavier last year.

Last Time vs. George Washington

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. Senior Beth Friday, who had the honor of having her jersey retired prior to the start of the game, led Duquesne with 21 points and a game-best 11 rebounds for her 49th career double-double. 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 22-18 on a three-point goal by 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 35-39 edge but Bautre's jumper got the Dukes to 35-31 at the break.

The Colonials held at least a four-point lead, but Friday scored the Dukes' first nine points of the second frame to chip away at the lead and bring the game to within one at 41-40 reach at 14:22. Joens hit another three-pointer to keep GW's lead that they increased 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 at 55-54, 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 a 61-64 reach on goals by Bautre and Friday and a free throw from Sharon. Joens made two free throws for a 68-61 lead with 1:05 ticking and Friday would twice get the Dukes' within a three-point reach afterward, but George Washington connected on three of four free throws to end the game and secure the win.

Opening Round Action ... Dukes vs. Fordham

Duquesne improved to 15-13 overall with a 60-52 victory over Fordham in the opening round of the 2003 Atlantic 10 championship Thursday afternoon. Candace Futrell led all scorers with 18 points while Beth Friday and Nicole Sinclair added 10 markers. Friday and Sinclair led the Dukes with eight rebounds each. Kyshawn Ruff led the Rams with 14 points and a game-best 16 rebounds.

Fordham opened the game taking a 9-5 lead with 15:09 before the Dukes cut the score to 9-8 at 14:39. A 7-1 Rams drive gave Fordham an 18-9 edge midway through, but DU answered with a 9-2 drive capped by Aiga Bautre's threepoint goal at 5:57 gave the Dukes a 21-20 edge. Akiode hit two buckets to give the Rams a 24-21 advantage and Khalihah Este-Shehu connected on one of two free throws for a 22-24 reach at 3:34. The Rams' held a 26-22 edge in the final two minutes before Friday hit a jumper at 2:21 to end the half's scoring as Fordham held a 26-24 edge at the half.

The second frame saw Futrell score eight of the Dukes' 12 points in the opening minutes to give the Red & Blue a 36- 29 lead at 13:59 - the largest lead of the game. The Rams pulled within three (36-33) at 12:43 before baskets by Friday and Nicole Sinclair put the Dukes ahead 40-33 at 11:42. Fordham brought the game back to three points (42-39) at 7:16, but Sinclair was sent to the line hitting both free throws at 7:01 for a 44-39 advantage. Beth Ann Dickinson hit an open three to cut the lead to 44-42 followed by Ruff's lay-up at 5:51 t6o knot the game 44-44. Sinclair sparked a 7-0 run on a put-back to give the Dukes a 51-44 margin with 3:36 ticking. The Rams responded with four unanswered points to get the game to a 51-48 Duquesne edge with 3:09 remaining. Fordham snagged the inbounds pass at 3:06 and scored the goal before the teams traded goals over a few minutes with Friday's goal giving DU a 55-52 lead at :35. Duquesne would connect on five of six free throws to end the game to take the 60-52 victory.

Futrell Hits 1,000

Junior Candace Futrell entered the UMass contest with 977 points, needing just 23 to become the 16th 1,000-point scorer at Duquesne. And to think to she had missed eight games with injuries this season as well. She didn't waste any time getting near the mark netting 16 points in the first half alone. Her three-point goal at 6:07 in the second frame put her at 1,001 and she ended the contest leading all scorers with 31 points. She is 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. Futrell has 1,026 entering the game with George Washington.

Friday All-Time Rebounder/Senior Class Rebounding Leader

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 1,160 over her not-yet-complete four seasons. She also has tallied 1,410 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 1,415 points and 1,268 rebounds entering the tournament.

Friday grabbed the senior class rebounding mark with her 11 rebounds against GW. She now has 294 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.

My Sharon-ah

Junior Shiri Sharon has been nearly perfect from the free throw line this season hitting 66 of her 87 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 6.8 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 190 entering the contest. She moved into fourth all-time at Duquesne in just her third season dishing our her 500th assist at UMass Mar. 2. Sharon also has 736 career points and is on track to be the first Duquesne player to reach 600 career assists. Duquesne Career Assists Leaders

Bau"TREY"

Freshman guard Aiga Bautre (BOU-Tray) leads the team with 47 three-point goals, which is tied for eighth in the Atlantic 10. Bautre hit a game-best five extra-point goals going 5-6 in all at Robert Morris and followed that with a 3-3 effort in the win vs. Pitt Dec. 3. Bautre also netted four vs. Toledo and at Virginia Tech. She was 3-3 from behind the arc at St. Bonaventure as well. Bautre is 47-97 from three-point range for a .485 accuracy, which stands first in the A-10. She had entered the starting lineup for the injured Candace Futrell and earned 10 starts. Her 47 treys ranks seventh on the DU singleseason list.