Jan. 4, 2014

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PITTSBURGH - April Robinson's 3-point attempt as time expired did not fall as VCU came away with a 71-68 victory over the Duquesne women's basketball team on Saturday night.

Wumi Agunbiade recorded a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds and Raegan Moore added 10 points for the Dukes who fall to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. Orsi Szecsi netted her 1,000 career point in the contest.

Robyn Parks scored 25 of her game-high 31 points in the 2nd half. Keira Robinson and Isis Thorpe scored 13 and 12 respectively for the Rams (14-1, 2-0 A-10) who won their program-best 13th game in a row.

With VCU taking an early 12-5 lead at 13:52 of the 1st half, the Dukes went on an 18-10 run over the 7:18 capped by a layup by Szamosi to make the score 22-21 and take their first lead of the game since 2-0. A jumper from Szecsi, which put her over 1,000 for her career made the score extended the lead to six points at 31-25. Szamosi followed with a basket, giving Duquesne its largest lead of the half at eight points. The Rams scored the final four points of the half as the Dukes took a 33-29 lead into halftime.

VCU made it a 1-point game on their first shot of the 2nd half when Thorpe drained a 3-pointer that made the score 33-32. However, the Rams would go on to miss their next five shots and two free throws over the next three minutes as the Dukes built a double-digit lead at 42-32 just after the 16-minute media timeout. The Dukes went over the half-century mark when Robinson converted the rare 4-point play to maintain the 10-point lead at 50-40 with 13:28 remaining.

Parks' jumper at the midway point of the half cut the deficit to five points at 56-51 and with 7:16 remaining in the contest, Zakia Williams' and-1 made it a one point game at 60-59. The teams combined for six straight empty possessions until Parks' layup gave VCU its first lead of the half. Eleven seconds later, Olivia Bresnahan's jumper regained the lead for the Dukes at 62-61.

The Rams had a chance to take the lead, but missed two foul shots by Melanie Royster resulted in a Robinson jumper that made the score 67-64 with 1:40 left. Two possessions later, Parks' and-1 with 45.4 seconds to play gave VCU a 69-67 advantage. Belma Nurkic was fouled with 37.5 seconds left and made 1-of-2 shots from the line. Szecsi fouled Royster with 23.2 seconds to play - she made both giving VCU a 71-68 lead. The Dukes called a 60-second timeout with 15.1 second remaining. Agunbiade's 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining fell short, but the rebound went off a VCU defender. Duquesne had one last chance, but Robinson 3-pointer was off as time expired.

Up next, the Dukes head to Bronx, New York to take on Fordham on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. The Rams (12-2, 1-0 A-10) have won 11 straight and are undefeated at Rose Hill Gym this season heading into tomorrow's game against Massachusetts.

GAME NOTES

• Szecsi has become the 25th member of the 1,000 Point Club

• This was Agunbiade's 17th career 20+ point game

• This was VCU's first win over Duquesne since Dec. 2, 1990

• Parks came into tonight's game averaging 23.1 ppg

• Agunbiade averaged 11.0 ppg and 4.0 rpg in the two previous meetings against VCU

VCU at Duquesne

Team	1 2 F VCU (14-1, 2-0 A-10) 29 42 71 Duquesne (9-6, 1-1 A-10) 33 35 68