Dec. 1, 2010

Box Score

AKRON, Ohio - Wumi Agunbiade recorded her third consecutive double-double with game-highs of 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Duquesne women's basketball team improved to 4-1 on the season after a 69-58 victory over Akron (4-3) on Wednesday night.

Vanessa Abel added 14 points for the Dukes. Alex Gensler scored 11 and Samantha Pollino 10. Orsi Szecsi scored 11 off the bench.

Ti'eshia Stubbs led Akron with 12 points and Kara Murphy scored 11.

DU took an eight point lead at 18-10 midway through the first half after Szecsi converted a Pollino steal into a layup.

The Zips would respond with an 8-0 run to tie the score with 7:51 remaining in the half.

The Dukes closed out the first half on a 16-4 run holding the Zips to 1-of-9 shooting in the final six minutes. An Abel 3-pointer from the top of the key with 20 seconds left closed out the first half scoring and gave Duquesne a 37-22 heading into halftime.

Duquesne's defense stayed strong through the first five minutes of the second half, as Akron missed its first six shots.

An Agunbiade layup at the 15:45 mark of the second half gave Duquesne its largest lead of the game at 20 points at 45-25.

Back-to-back layups by Stubbs and a pair of jumpers by Jasmine Mushington cut the Dukes' lead to seven points, 57-50 with 3:36 left. A pair of Abel foul shots put the Dukes back up by nine, but Murphy answered by hitting a pair from the line on the next possession to keep it a seven point game with 3:20 remaining.

Duquesne would hold Akron to just two field goals the rest of the way.

"This was a good win on the road against a very tough team," said head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio.

"Defensively, we did a good job in the first half. Although we had a little bit of a letdown in the second half by allowing them to get to the rim and putting them on the free throw line which let them cut into the lead," added Coach Serio.

Akron was sent to the line 17 times in the second half helped by Duquesne picking up its 10th team foul at the 9:37 mark of the second half.

After a short stay at home, the Dukes will take to the road once again for a pair of games - Dec. 4th at Canisius followed by a Dec. 6th trip to the University of Buffalo.

• At the 15:10 mark of the first half, a Rachel Tecca layup gave Akron its first lead and only of the game at 8-7. This marked the first time in over 84 minutes that Duquesne trailed
  
  
• Agunbiade set personal bests with nine field goals and tied her career-high with three blocks
  
  
• Abel's 14 points was a season-high
  
  
• Jocelyn Floyd had a season-best four assists

Duquesne at Akron