March 5, 2006

Box Score

The tenth-seeded Duquesne Dukes saw a disappointing end to their hard-fought drive for the A-10 title falling 76-53 to third-seeded and nationally-ranked #22 Temple in semifinal action of the Atlantic 10 tournament Sunday afternoon. Senior Nicole Sinclair (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) led the Duquesne with 14 points while junior Loui Hall (Masontown, Pa./Albert Gallatin) added 12 points.

A-10 Player of the Year Candice Dupree led the game and the Owls with 31 points and Kamesha Hairston added 17 in the win to advance to their third-straight A-10 title game.

Temple opened the contest taking an early 10-4 lead and held a 15-8 edge after a three-pointer at 15:10. Chandler's three-point goal put the Dukes within a 15-11 reach, but the Owls increased their lead to a 26-14 lead after an 11-3 run. The Dukes suffered some poor shooting in the first nine minutes of play connecting on just 4-11 (.364) while Temple hit 7-11 (.636). Hall started a 6-0 run on two free throws and Brittany Warren netted a goal and two free throws to close the gap to 28-21 reach at 7:53. The Owls used their speed and quick shots to extend their edge to 34-21 at the 6:29 mark. Chandler hit a long-range goal and both of the one-and-one bonus for a 34-26 reach, but the Owls would take a 42-29 lead into halftime. The Achilles hill for the Dukes was their shooting as they hit just 8-28 for a .286 accuracy while Temple went 15-25 for a .600 mark. The Owls held a 17-11 rebounding margin and got 22 points from Dupree.

Fatigue seems to be a factor for the Dukes who played two hard games to advance to the semifinals as they hit just 1-10 from the field to open the second half, several of which rolled off the rim, and were whistled for a number of choppy fouls. The Red & Blue never gave up fighting as hard as they could versus the 22nd-ranked Owls throughout the contest, but were strong-manned under the boards.

Temple held a 55-37 lead at the 12:57 mark, out-scoring the Dukes 12-7. Duquesne and Temple each scored 10 points over the next four minutes for a 65-47 game with 8:29 ticking. Sinclair and Bruce cut the deficit to 16 points and Bautre and Bruce hit goals to take the deficit down to 14-points (70-56) as 3:57 remained. Bautre hit a three for a 72-59 reach, but Temple hit a three, despite Bruce being knocked to the floor on what looked like a push-off, for a 75-59 lead with 2:10 ticking. Sinclair hit back-to-back goals for a 75-63 reach, but the Dukes would get no closer.

The Dukes got beat on the boards 43-22, but played a smarter game committing a season-low four turnovers to the Owls' 14. DU got 12 points off of Temple turnovers. Duquesne played better in the second frame hitting 14-34 (.412) from the field, but was just 22-62 (.355) for the game. Temple was 24-46 (.522) for the game from the field.

Duquesne concludes the year 13-17 overall and advanced to semifinal action for the first time since 1992.