Dec. 6, 2010

Box Score

BUFFALO - Samantha Pollino scored 18 of her career-high 24 points in the second half to lead the Duquesne women's basketball team past Buffalo 67-53 at Alumni Arena on Monday night.

The Dukes improve to 6-1 overall and have won five games in a row - all on the road.

Alex Gensler added 18 points including four 3-pointers for the Dukes who has its best shooting game of the season by hitting 28-of-59 shots for 47.5 percent.

UB's Kourtney Brown scored 17 for the Bulls and pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds.

With UB leading 19-16 at the 8:45 mark, Kelly Britcher converted a layup which began a quick 6-0 run. After a Buffalo turnover, the Dukes regained the lead on a Pollino put back off an Orsi Szecsi miss. On the ensuing possession, Jocelyn Floyd stripped Brittany Hedderson at midcourt and took it all the way to put DU up by three points, 22-19 with 5:57 remaining in the half.

Bridgette Kendricks' fade away jumper with seven seconds remaining closed out the first half scoring with the Dukes leading 29-27.

Pollino opened up the second half by scoring the Dukes' first eight points. Duquesne finally began to put some distance on the scoreboard when Gensler scored five straight points in 53 seconds to make the score 44034.

Pollino's layup at the 8:21 mark of the second half gave the Dukes its first double-digit lead at 52-41.

DU's largest lead was 16 points - done twice, the later on a Pollino 3-pointer from the right corner which set her personal-best scoring mark and made the score 67-51.

"We played a great second half, we came out with a defensive mind frame and were more relaxed and focused," said head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio. "Vanessa Abel was tremendous handling the ball for us and Carly Vendemia gave is great minutes off the bench."

Abel did not commit a turnover in 39 minutes of play and Vendemia fought for six tough rebounds.

"This was a great way to end the road trip."

Duquesne at Buffalo

GAME NOTES

• A small fire in an elevator shaft far away from the court delayed the start time by 30 minutes
  
  
• Pollino's previous career-high was 23 points, most recently vs. Rhode Island on Mar. 1, 2009
  
  
• This is the third consecutive season Duquesne has begun the season 6-1
  
  
• Duquesne committed a season-low 16 turnovers
  
  
• The Dukes are out to their second-best road record to start a season - last season they began 6-1 on the road and 7-1 away from the Palumbo Center