Nov. 12, 2010

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PITTSBURGH - Freshman Orsi Szecsi scored 19 points in her collegiate debut as the Duquesne women's basketball team won its season opener 70-65 over Lehigh on Friday night at the Palumbo Center.

Vanessa Abel scored 12 points and Samantha Pollino added 11 and Kelly Britcher 10 in the win.

Pittsburgh native Erica Prosser scored a game-high 24 points for the Mountain Hawks.

DU got out to an early 12-0 lead and held Lehigh without a basket until the 13:42 mark of the first half. The Duquesne defense would hold Lehigh to just four field goals on 25 attempts in the first half as a Szecsi jumper put the Dukes up by 22 (40-18) going into halftime.

The Mountain Hawks used a 18-7 run midway through the second half to cut the DU lead to seven points - 58-51 - with 6:17 to play. An Abel 3-pointer followed by a Wumi Agunbiade layup put the Dukes up double-figures again at 63-51 with 5:00 left.

With 36 seconds remaining, Prosser banked-in a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to get Lehigh within four points at 66-62, but a pair of Abel free throws and a fast-break basket by Pollino put the game out of reach.

"Orsi came up big time for us," said head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio. "She made good decisions, shot the ball well for us and was a spark off the bench."

Szecsi finished 5-of-7 from the floor and 8-of-11 from the line.

"We knew Lehigh wasn't going to give up. They are a very good team," added McConnell-Serio. "This is a great win for us to start off the season, especially against a very good team."

Up next for Duquesne is the first of six consecutive road games when they visit Morgantown to play #11 West Virginia. Tipoff is Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.

GAME NOTES

• Jocelyn Floyd made her first-ever start
  
• Duquesne improves to 20-18 all-time in season-openers and 25-13 in home openers (15-7 at the Palumbo Center)
  
• After shooting 16 percent from the floor including 11.1 percent from beyond-the-arc, Lehigh hit 48 percent of its shots in the second half including 56 percent of its 3's
  
• Duquesne assisted on 17 of their 23 field goals led by Abel with seven
  
• Ahjah Hall tied her career mark with seven minute played
  
• Agunbiade had a game-high three blocks

Lehigh at Duquesne