March 3, 2006
Box Score
Tenth seeded Duquesne (12-16) took a 56-51 upset of seventh-seeded Massachusetts (11-17) in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship Friday afternoon at Saint Joseph's University's Alumni Fieldhouse. Jocelyn Chandler led the Dukes and the game with 17 points while Nicole Sinclair tied the game-lead with eight rebounds. Gosia Flaga dished out a game-high five assists. UMass was led by Kate Mills' 16 points and 13 points from Pam Rosanio.
Duquesne opened the contest taking a 10-3 edge at the 17:28 mark before a 7-2 UMass run cut the lead to a 12-10 Dukes' advantage. Bruce hit a three pointer followed by a Hall goal for a 17-10 Duquesne edge at 13:05. Chandler's three-point bucket at 12:25 gave the Red & Blue a 20-13 advantage. UMass rattled off a 6-0 run for a 20-19 reach before a Kristi Little bucket gave DU a 22-19 lead. UMass' Rosanio launched a three at 8:15 to tie the contest at 22-22 and the Minutewomen took their first lead of the game, 24-22, with 6:44 on the clock. Chandler gave Duquesne the lead seconds later on the three point goal before 3:21 of scoreless play occurred in the contest. UMass put an end to the slump hitting two free throws at 3:10 for a 26-25 lead. The squads traded the next three buckets with Aiga Bautre giving DU a 29-28 lead at 1:50 with the last. UMass was called for traveling on a fast-break attempt with :54 ticking and the Dukes used a time-out to set up the mid-court inbound that led to a Bautre three pointer and 32-28 Duquesne lead they would carry into the intermission. Duquesne held a 12-8 rebounding edge, which included eight offensive boards.
Duquesne grabbed an eight point lead with four unanswered to open the second stanza, but UMass ran off a 7-0 run to get within a 36-36 reach at 16:00. Chandler's three-pointer at 15:47. DU went up 39-35 on a Chandler three-pointer at 15:47 and 41-37 at 13:19 on a Chandler jumper. UMass went on a 6-0 run for a 43-41 lead at 11:35 - their first of the frame. DU ended a three minute scoring drought as Chandler scored at 10:13 for a 43-43 tie and Little hit a three-pointer for a 46-43 lead at 8:44 before Brittany Warren capped ff a 7-0 run for a 48-45 lead. UMass would go nearly six minutes without scoring before Mills hit a basket at 5:48 for a 48-45 reach. Warren's fast break shot off a steal put the Dukes up 50-45 with 4:04 ticking. Sinclair hit two free throws for a 52-45 lead, but the Minutewomen jumped to a 5-0 run to cut the edge to a 52-50 Duquesne advantage. Jade Singleton put DU up 54-50 at 1:38 and UMass inched to a 54-51 reach hitting one of two free throws. UMass pressure forced Little out of bound on the sideline with :28 on the clock, but missed the goal with :14 to go. Duquesne gained possession under the UMass goal and Hall was fouled and sent to the line for one-and-one. She hit both to give DU a 56-51 lead and final.
Duquesne out-rebounded the Minutewomen 26-25 and out-shot UMass .429 (21-49) to .421 (16-38) from the field. The Dukes hit 8-12 fro the arc (.667) and 6-7 (.857) from the line.
Duquesne will advance to face No. 2 Charlotte at 4:00 pm Saturday.
