11/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2004
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7:05 p.m. - Saturday, November 27, 2004
Pittsburgh, Pa. - A.J. Palumbo Center (6,200)
Radio: RedZoneMedia.com
Live Stats: Gametracker
| No. | NAME | YR | POS | HT | PPG | RPG |
| 5 | Aiga Bautre | SO | G | 5-11 | 18.0 | 1.0 |
| 10 | Erin Crawford | JR | G | 5-9 | 0.0 | 1.0 apg |
| 45 | Maria Stankevich | JR | C | 6-3 | 8.0 | 8.5 |
| 34 | Nicole Sinclair | JR | F | 6-0 | 11.0 | 7.0 |
| 22 | Loui Hall | SO | F | 6-0 | 7.0 | 6.5 |
Bowling Green (1-1) Probable Starters
| 21 | Casey McDowell | JR | G | 5-7 | 7.0 | 1.5 |
| 24 | Tene Lewis | SR | G | 5-8 | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| 13 | Liz Honegger | SO | F | 5-11 | 16 | 5 5.0 |
| 22 | Ali Mann | SO | F | 6-1 | 6.5 | 9.0 |
| 44 | Megan Thorburn | SO | F | 6-1 | 17.5 | 2.5 apg |
DUKES OPEN HOME SEASON
Duquesne University women's basketball team opens the home schedule Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. when they will host the Mid-America Conference's Bowling Green University at the Palumbo Center. The Dukes (0-2) are coming off a 71-55 loss to traditional powerhouse Penn State at the Lady Lions' Bryce Jordan Center. The Falcons (1-1) topped IPFW 115-84 last Friday after losing their preseason NIT opener 89-41 at nationally-ranked Ohio State.
THE SERIES
This game marks just the third meeting between Duquesne and Bowling Green in which the Falcons own a 2-0 edge. They first met in the 1996 season in Ohio at Anderson Arena where the Dukes lost 88-76 (Dec. 2, 1995), despite a game-high 26 points from DU's Korie Hlede and 11 from current Duquesne assistant coach Trixie Wolf. The next year (Dec. 11, 1996), Hlede -- a first-round pick in the WNBA draft who played five seasons in that league and finished her second as an assistant coach with the Detroit Shock -- scored 21 points, but the Falcons picked up a 74-66 victory at the Palumbo Center ... that win was the 100th career victory for then-BGSU head coach Jaci Clark.
ABOUT THE DUKES
Duquesne returns three starters from last season's 16-13 squad in juniors Nicole Sinclair, Maria Stankevich and Aiga Bautre.
The Red & Blue suffered the loss of its veteran backcourt with the graduation of Candace Futrell (21.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg) a third-round WNBA draft choice who played with the Connectocit Sun this season, and Shiri Sharon (8.8 ppg, 5.5 apg), who reigns as the Dukes all-time assist leader and is currently playing professionally back in her homeland, Israel. The duo accounted for 44 percent of the team's scoring (29.8 ppg); 50 percent of the assists (7.6 apg) and 47 percent of the team's steals (3.82 spg).
Duquesne welcomes five newcomers to the 2004-05 slate and gained the talents of two local Division I transfers who will be eligible to compete in the 2005-06 season.
Duquesne stands 0-2 opening the season, something that hasn't been seen since the 1989-90 slate.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons will take a 1-1 record into Saturday's (Nov. 27) game at Duquesne ... after suffering an 89-41 loss at nationally-ranked Ohio State (Nov. 12), BGSU rebounded for a 115-84 victory at IPFW a week later (Nov. 19) ... the OSU game was a first-round contest in the Sportsview.tv WNIT ... sophomores Megan Thorburn and Liz Honegger currently rank one-two on the team in scoring ... Thorburn, after scoring a career-high 26 points at IPFW, currently averages a team-high 17.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game ... Honegger had a career-best 27 points vs. the Mastodons, and now has 16.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game
BGSU ended the 2003-04 season with a record of 21-10, and the Falcons finished the MAC campaign with an 11-5 slate ... head coach Curt Miller welcomes back 11 letterwinners, including three starters, from that team ... the returning starters, all sophomores, are Honegger, Thorburn and Ali Mann.
THE COACHES
Dan Durkin is in his 12th season at the helm of the Duquesne women's basketball program and as a head coach. He posts a 146-164 career mark. Durkin is a 1975 graduate of Mount St. Mary's. Curt Miller is in this fourth season as a head coach and as the mentor of the Falcons. He is 23-27 to date. He is a 1990 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace.
DUQUESNE/BGSU TIES
Marisa Smith is sitting out this season for the Dukes, after transferring from BGSU over the summer ... Smith averaged 3.3 points per game as a freshman at BG in 2002-03, and had 0.8 ppg in 10 contests for the Brown and Orange last winter
Duquesne assistant coach Trixie Wolf is a native of Jefferson, Ohio, the same hometown as Bowli8ng Green's fifth-year senior Kelly Kapferer ... in 1999-2000, Kapferer pulled down 417 rebounds for Jefferson Area High School, breaking Wolf's school single-season record ... Wolf had grabbed 410 boards in the 1990-91 season.
DUKES LAST GAME
du lost a 71-55 road battle to perrenial powerhouse Penn State Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. Junior Aiga Bautre led the Red and Blue with a career-high and game-best 20 points. Fellow junior Nicole Sinclair also hit her career high with 17 points while pulling down a team-best 11 rebounds.
In the opening half, Sinclair fed Bautre for a three-pointer that gave the Dukes their first lead, 7-5, with 17:54 to play in the period. DU regained the edge, 10-8, just over a minute later on sophomore Loui Hall's traditional three point play. Jess Strom's three-pointer put the Lady Lions back on top, 13-10, at the 15:33 mark, an advantage they would not surrender the rest of the game. Bautre's jumper and foul shot inside of two minutes got the Dukes to their smallest deficit of the second half, 63-55. Penn State's 8-0 run closed the contest as the Lady Lions won their first game of the season against three losses.
The Dukes were held to 34.5 percent shooting from the floor and committed 21 turnovers while dishing out just nine assists. Penn State, which outrebounded the Dukes 41-33, hit 42.l percent of their shots, had one more turnover than assist (15/14) while scoring 30 of their points on DU turnovers. DU had 11 points from PSU turnovers.
NOTING THE DUKES
- Coach Durkin enters his 12th season at the Duquesne helm and as a head coach ... his tenure is the second-longest among active Atlantic 10 coaches and his 80 Atlantic 10 wins ranks seventh all-time
- The Dukes lost just two players to graduation in veteran guards Candace Futrell (21.4 ppg) and Shiri Sharon (5.5 apg) ... Futrell was named the Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year while Sharon ended her career as Duquesne's all-time assist leader with 659
- DU depth will be in the inside game with returning veterans Maria Stankevich and Erin Wehrle at the center spot and forwards Nicole Sinclair and Loui Hall
- Bringing additional experience to the squad is senior Alyssa Borasky and sophomore Takneekia "TK" Baker
- The Dukes welcome five newcomers to the playing ranks in 2004 with JUCO transfer Erin Crawford (15.3 ppg, 4.3 apg); sophomore transfer Brittany Warren (18.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and freshmen Rebecca Bonasso (11.4 ppg 4.5 apg); Jocelyn Chandler (29.2 ppg); Jade Singleton (18.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg)
- Nicole Sinclair ranked sixth in the A-10 last season in rebounds per game and has 347 in her two seasons
- Aiga Bautre has a career three-point accuracy of .438 (95- 217) which is first on the DU career list ... Bautre holds the A-10 regular season mark with her .490 (48-98) accuracy as a freshman
- Russia native Maria Stankevich earned the starting post role mid-way through the season and led DU with 40 blocks, which stood fourth among A-10 leaders ... she rejected a career-best five shots at George Washington, she recorded 32 of her blocks after earning the starting role
- Duquesne ranked 19th in the NCAA last season with 6.9 threepoint goals per game
- DU will face seven 2004 post-season teams this year
- Duquesne gained two D-I transfer this year in local players Carmen Bruce (Georgetown) and Marisa Smith (Bowling Green), both can practice with the team and will be eligible for the 2005-06 season.
COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING
Here is how Duquesne and Bowling Green compare statistically:
2005 GP FGM FGA PCT RPG APG BPG SPG PPGDUQ 2 38 107 .355 31.0 10.0 0.5 10.5 53.0BGSU 2 59 125 .472 42.0 13.5 2.0 6.5 78.0
THREE UNDER THEE
Head Coach Dan Durkin has an unusual coaching staff ... unusual as in they have all played for him at one point in time. Tanya Garner, in her third year with the Dukes, played under coach Durkin (an assistant coach) during her entire four-year career at Penn State (1988-91). Wolf is in her second season on staff and came to Duquesne as a transfer from the University of Maine. She competed for the Dukes during the 1994-96 slates. Pender begins her first year with Duquesne as a graduate assistant coach and was a four-year letterwinner for the Red & Blue from 2000 to 2003.
WINNING WAYS
Duquesne tied the school record with ten Atlantic 10 victories this past season (10-6). Over the last four years, the Dukes have won no fewer than 14 games while averaging 15 victories (eight in A-10 play). DU has also won the last four mythical "City Championships" with eight straight wins (four each) over intracity rivals Pittsburgh and Robert Morris.
