Jan. 11, 2012

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PITTSBURGH - Four players scored in double-figures led by Orsi Szecsi's15 points as the Duquesne women's basketball team improved to 13-4, 1-1 A-10 after a 68-49 victory over Xavier on Wednesday night.

Alex Gensler scored 15 and Wumi Agunbiade and Jocelyn Floydadded 10 apiece for the Dukes who earn their first victory over the Musketeers since 2004.

Floyd also recorded a season-high eight steals for Duquesne who remain undefeated at home with a 9-0 record.

Xavier's Jessica Pachko recorded a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Musketeers (3-12, 0-2 A-10) who have dropped eighth straight contests.

The Musketeers took a seven point lead midway through the first half on a Tyeasha Moss driving layup that made the score 18-11. The Dukes would respond with a 12-4 run capped by a Szecsi 3-pointer to take a 23-22 lead.

The lead would change hands four more time before halftime. Belma Nurkicput the Dukes up 28-26 with 2:38 to remaining and Szecsi's layup with 32 seconds closed out the first half scoring with DU in the lead 33-28.

Xavier started out the second half with four straight baskets to take a 36-33 lead. With XU leading 40-36, the Dukes went on a 19-1 run to make the score 55-41 with 7:56 to play.

The run began with a pair of Gensler foul shots followed by an Agunbiade and-1 that put DU up 41-40 at 11:29. Duquesne's lead would reach double digits on a Floyd layup with 9:01 to play. The Dukes would hold the Musketeers without a field goal for almost five minutes during that stretch.

Duquesne would see their lead grow to 19 points as Floyd's layup with 28 seconds ended the evening's scoring with the Dukes taking home a 68-49 victory.

"I'm very proud of the effort of our players how they continued to believe in their defense. They did a very good job of communicating tonight," said head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio. "We made plays. We stopped settling for jump shots and attacked the basket."

Duquesne forced 27 Xavier turnovers and scored 24 points in the paint.

"Even though our top scorers struggled from the floor tonight, we found a way to score and put points on the board," added Coach Serio.

Agunbiade and Gensler were a combined 6-for-28 from the floor. Agunbiade did hit 8-of-10 from the foul line.

"Through and through, this was a team effort and we got it done tonight," concluded Coach Serio.

Duquesne is off this weekend and will play at Temple one week from tonight. The Dukes and Owls will tipoff at the Liacouras Center at 4:00 p.m. on Jan. 18th.

Xavier at Duquesne

GAME NOTES

• The last win over Xavier was Jan. 11, 2004 - a drought that spanned nine games
• Nurkic played a career-high 27 minutes
• Agunbiade's eight free throws made was a career-high
• The 40 FG attempts by Xavier was a Duquesne opponent season-low
• Duquesne has not had more turnovers than the opponent in any game this season