Jan. 13, 2010

Box Score

OLEAN, N.Y. - In a battle of the teams that were predicted to finish sixth in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the Duquesne women's basketball team defeated St. Bonaventure 57-52 Wednesday night.

The Dukes improve to 12-5, 2-0 while the Bonnies fall to 13-4, 1-1.

Keri Pryor scored a game-high 17 points and Samantha Pollino added 15 for DU. Additionally, Pollino pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

Jessica Jenkins led SBU with 14 points.

The first half was low-scoring with the teams combining for 15-of-47 from the floor.

A Pryor jumper gave the Dukes an early 7-2 lead but the Bonnies followed with an 11-2 spurt to take a 13-9 lead midway through the half. The SBU lead would reach seven point twice - 20-13 after a Gustafson 3-pointer at the 2:48 mark and 22-15 after a Mitchell putback with 1:12 to play in the half.

A pair of Kelly Britcher foul shots with 26 second remaining in the half closed out the scoring with St. Bonaventure leading 22-17 going into halftime.

Jenkins' 3-pointer with 17:50 to play in the second half put the Bonnies up 27-17, their largest lead of the contest.

The Dukes defense would hold SBU to just one field goal a pair of foul shots over the next seven minutes.

Duquesne went ahead 32-31 after a pair of Pollino foul shots. However, St. Bonaventure regained the lead 15 second later on two Alaina Walker foul shots.

On the next possession, Kelly Britcher drained a 3-pointer midway through the half putting the Dukes up by a pair at 35-33.

DU would increase to 11 points (50-39 at the 4:44 mark) when Pryor found Vanessa Abel for a layup.

SBU did not back down, going on a 11-2 run over the next four minutes to get within two points, 54-52 with 37 seconds remaining.

On the next possession, Pollino stood in and took a charge with 10 second left. On the inbounds pass, the Bonnies fouled Alex Gensler. The sophomore hit the first shot, making the score 55-52. She missed the second attempt, but picked off a Meghan VanTatenhove pass under the hoop and went in for an uncontested layup at the buzzer sounded securing the 57-52 victory.

"I couldn't be more proud of this team," said head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio. "Coming out in the second half, we needed to turn it up a notch."

The Dukes scored only 17 points in the first half - the fewest since their loss to West Virginia in November.

After making only 6-of-21 (.286) shots in the first half, Duquesne made 12-of-25 (.480) in the second half. "We found ways to score. Kelly Britcher gave us great minutes off the bench and hit some key 3-pointers." Britcher hit both her attempts from beyond-the-arc.

" This is a great win...a great TEAM win," added McConnell-Serio. "Any win in the A-10 is huge, especially on the road."

The Dukes hit the road again this weekend when they visit Fordham on Sunday afternoon. The game, which was originally scheduled for Jan. 16, was moved to Jan. 17 so it can be aired on the CBS College Sports Network. Tipoff is at noon.

Duquesne at St. Bonaventure