Nov. 26, 2013

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - The Duquesne women's basketball team used a 52-point 2nd half in which they shot 62 percent from the floor in their 78-58 victory over Miami University on Tuesday night at Millett Hall. With the victory, the Dukes improve to 5-2 on the season.

April Robinson scored 19 points and Raegan Moore 17 to lead the Dukes. Wumi Agunbiade scored 12 and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Robinson recorded a game-high five assists.

Miami (1-4) was led by Hannah Robertson with 19 points.

The Dukes started off slow, missing their first six shots as Miami jumped out to an 11-0 lead at the first media timeout. At the 15:04 mark of the first half, the Dukes finally got on the board on Moore's layup. This was the beginning of a 15-2 run. Jose-Ann Johnson's offensive rebound and put-back at 10:10 tied the score at 13-13. Six possessions later, Moore's pull-up jumper at 7:57 gave Duquesne its first lead of the game at 15-13.

However, Miami would respond with the next 12 points over the next 5:33 to retake the lead at 25-15 with 2:24 to play in the half. With four seconds left on the clock, Robinson's rebounded a missed Miami foul shot and took the ball two dribbles past half court, launching a 3-pointer from 40 feet at the buzzer that was good. This cut the Miami lead to 28-26 heading into halftime.

The Dukes tied the game at 29-29 on Moore's fast break layup 1:45 into the 2nd half. Duquesne would retake the lead after a Johnson turn-around jumper at 16:59 that made the score 34-32. There would be three ties and four lead changes before the Dukes took a 40-38 lead into the 12-minute media timeout. The Dukes would increase their lead to nine points over the next 46 seconds to take a 47-38 lead with 10:16 remaining.

Duquesne would force three straight turnovers that resulted in six points to stretch the lead to 15 points at 53-38 with 8:41 to play. The Dukes would maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the game. Nurkic's layup with 57 seconds remaining closed out the scoring and gave the Dukes its largest lead of the game - 20 points at 78-58.

"I'm very proud of the way our team displayed poise and a never say die attitude tonight," said head coach Dan Burt. "We wanted to attack the basket and get to the free throw line a lot."

The Dukes had a season-high 39 free throw attempts, making a season-high 29.

"In the 2nd half, we shot the ball better and ramped up the press, generating lots of turnovers."

Duquesne forced 14 2nd half turnovers, resulting in 21 points.

"I can't say enough about the contributions of Belma Nurkic and Angela Heintz. They were key for us this evening."

The duo combined for 23 points - a season-high 15 from Nurkic and eight from Heintz (all from the foul line).

"Definitely a tale of 2 halves, but we regrouped during halftime and did a great job at getting to the foul in the 2nd half."

The Dukes made 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) shots from the foul line in the 2nd half.

After Thanksgiving, the Dukes will play their first-ever game outside the United States. Duquesne will face #5/6 Notre Dame on a neutral court at Ryerson University's Mattamy Athletic Centre (formerly Maple Leaf Gardens) in Toronto, Ontario. The Dukes and Fighting Irish play Sunday, December 1 at 2:00 p.m. The game is SOLD OUT.

GAME NOTES

• This was the first game this season that Duquesne did not lead at halftime

• Heintz's eight points tied her career-high (Morehead State)

• Agunbiade made a season-high six foul shots

• Duquesne improves to 3-1 all-time against Miami and 2-0 at Millett Hall

• Agunbiade now has 1,340 career points - nine behind Loui Hall ('07) for 9th place on the Dukes' all-time scoring list

• The Dukes had a season-high 15 steals, led by Moore with four

• Duquesne finished with 30 points in the paint and 31 points off of turnovers

Duquesne at Miami

Team	1 2 F Duquesne (5-2) 26 52 78 Miami (1-4) 28 30 58